Friday July 3, 6:41 p.m.

Steady day. No classes at Speedy today. I had The Bass and The Bow plus I've got the Friday night juku pair. Note that I said "pair" and not a "trio". Yes, I think the boss may pull out tonight; when she said she may not be able to come for her half-hour, I gestured toward my stomach, thinking that she may have had another relapse from her operation. Instead, she jerked her head toward the hubby in the living room. Ah.Yup, he's gotta be fed.

Although The Bass is still on, The Bow may be pulling out altogether since she may have squared a full-time position according to an interview she had the other day. Ahhh...just as well. At least, I can keep things in the neighbourhood on alternating Fridays. Between The Bass and The Bow, I sped off toward Shinjuku, and hit Kinokuniya where I got the text for Mr. White's inaugural class next week. Of course, there was no accompanying CD so I ordered one. The lady said that it would take about 10 days so I'm holding them to that promise. At the same time, I also got "The Otaku Encyclopedia -- An Insider's Guide to the Subculture of Cool Japan". I'd read the review of it in "The Japan Times" the other day, and decided to pick up a copy. It was written by Patrick W. Galbraith, who has often been seen in Akihabara dressed up as one of the main characters from "Dragonball" who often gives his fellow foreigners a tour of the area. I've only read the first several pages so far...as it is an encyclopedia, there are the various expressions defined very fully as only a true otaku could. But through the first couple of interviews and some of his own insights, he's quite honest about the lot of the Japanese geeks. A few years ago, they were seemingly the toast of Tokyo in an Elephant Man sort of way due to the efforts of that movie, "Densha Otoko". However, Galbraith points out that otaku are still very much ridiculed and have as much social eptitude as a comatose patient. An interview with one anime director by the name of Yutaka Yamamoto was quite revealing; Yamamoto comes off as being a walking and talking paradox...he slags his fellow otaku for their rudeness while admitting that he's one himself with the seeming personality requirements, and nearly has a debate with himself on the concept of moe. Yup, frankly not a guy I want to socialize with.

The bizarro sight of the week was catching the cover of one of the big fancy magazines. The cover showed Bruce Willis with his new wife (!) I guess ol' Bruno had enough of seeing his ex gallivanting with Mr. Punk'd and decided to answer his midlife crisis by wedding with a model two decades his junior. No problems here, Mr. Willis. Robbing the cradle in this country is virtually a national institution. Anyways, the bizarre part was seeing Bullethead and Emma in some weird psychosexual poses while Bruce had red nail polish on his toenails. Glad I had my Burger King way ahead.

Went up to HMV. Yup, Michael Jackson was playing on the speakers. I was thinking of buying his best album but on seeing the list, it didn't seem complete enough. I already have "Thriller". I was looking for "Off The Wall" but couldn't find it, so I've decided to hold off. Instead, I just bought one of the Ken Burns' series on jazz at nearby Tower Records. Speaking of Jackson, I hear that the big memorial will now be held next Tuesday at the Staples Center in LA. So, instead of having perhaps the largest funeral in pop cultural history in a Neverland, far away from the city, the size of Chiyoda Ward, the powers-that-be will have the big sendoff in an arena that only holds 20,000. Doesn't make much sense but I can understand the neighbours balking at having the event literally next door; they probably remember all too well when Jackson had won that court case a decade ago. However, I can see a lot of problems happening downtown next week.

Ended up having dinner at The Restauranteur's. Damn fine Beef Stroganoff. Tons of cholesterol but comfort food nonetheless. And not exactly the cheapest item, but I figure if I had to choose between gnashing my teeth about which cheapo place to eat at or eating at a slightly pricey place with good food, friendliness and service, I would know my answer.

Thursday July 2, 5:06 p.m.

Well, you can add another celeb to the obituary list: Karl Malden, dead at 97. At least, he passed away peacefully in his sleep without any major horrible ending, unlike Jackson, Fawcett and McMahon. Of course, he's known for his roles in "Patton" and "On The Waterfront", but I associate him most with "The Streets of San Francisco" back in the late 70s, when he was partnered with a young Michael Douglas...and of course, his American Express commercials. The last time I saw him was on "The West Wing" when he played a priest and showed up in the Oval Office with President Bartlett. Malden always played those very reassuring, father-type roles.

I guess it made for a very appropriate coda for my last time at Maruzen today. After 2 months of having to wait for a DVD for Mr. Jyuppie because of goofs at both ends of the distribution scene, I went to pick it up after I finally got word and an apology that it had finally reached these shores. When I reached the counter, I gave the young kid behind it the slip I'd been carrying since before Golden Week. I didn't make any trouble, even when the kid started to sweat because he was seeming to have trouble finding the disc; I just hoped that it was there so that I could just get it and go. Luckily...for that moment, it was and he gave it to me. Then, the punchline. This DVD for my Oxford "Effective Presentations" book costs a whopping 18,000 yen! I waited a sixth of a year to pay nearly 2 man for a DVD that should star Sir Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson for the price I've just paid. Well, speaking of American Express, I had to pull out my rarely-used credit card since I didn't have enough cash on hand. I had kinda figured that I would be using the plastic to pay for my air ticket home; well, it got the warmup today. Goodbye, Maruzen.

Furthermore on the segue of ironic bad twists....all those frenetic Michael Jackson fans who have been amassing in front of Neverland, thinking that they were going to be taking part in history's largest public viewing of a dead celeb, got O Henry'ed when they found out that the ceremony wouldn't be taking place there after all. Apparently, the neighbours weren't too keen on having a mass of humanity the size of a small city showing up in their backyards to sing, moonwalk and mourn at the death of their hero. I think the security guy who had blabbed the rumour in the first place is probably going to be transferred to walk the beat in Watts during the graveyard shift.

Wednesday July 1, 7:52 p.m.

I've been grinding through the translations from The Cornerette, and she threw me some more stuff to tackle...due by the 5th. Take a number.

I listened to the latest Shena Ringo album...forgot what the title was...basically it's notable for the fact that J-Pop's scariest songstresss is apparently just wearing a pink silk sheet and a frown on the cover. Compared to her last album, which was more jazz-based and had me fully awake in bed, Ringo has gone back to her old raunchiness although she's definitely multi-genre. I think I picked up chanson, rock, jazz and funk at least.

Wednesday July 1, 11:02 a.m.

Well, early Happy Canada Day. I realize that it's still 10 p.m. Tuesday evening back in Toronto. No big plans here in The Big Sushi. Maybe I'll light a jar of maple syrup in tribute. Certainly would give the apartment a much needed nicer fragrance. However, the big BBQ at Shrek's this Saturday has been called off due to heat...mostly from his kids who are undergoing a fever of sorts.

It'll be a calm day, unusual for midweek, especially since this was Hump Day earlier this year. 001 isn't in today, The Diver is now gone, and The Fashion Designer won't be in until her usual 9:30 slot...that is, if she doesn't dotakyan again. I've got Grandma Enka for her monthly chitchat with me and then The Admin at the usual place; hopefully, we won't have any bothersome intrusions by low-level chinpira like last time.

Tuesday June 30, 7:38 p.m.

Well, it's been a banner day for both the juku boss and myself in terms of our students. The hyperactive girl was totally cool today whereas Suzanne was finally able to get out of her funk by getting out of her regular shifts at that place. She was back to her considerably sunny self. And it may be the last time I see her since she'll be taking the whole of July off and then considering her options from August onwards. Of course, next week, she'll be heading for The Big Apple for about a week, so most of our extended session today was gabbing about what to do and where to go. She is considering trying places ranging from Nobu in Manhattan and checking out the gospel scene in Harlem...during the daytime, of course.

Hope my luck stretches toward the Milds as well. If Mrs. Mild can actually string some accurate sentences together tonight, it'll be a great night.

Tuesday June 30, 4:35 p.m.

Well, well, well....after 2 months of waiting, that DVD I had ordered will finally come into the hands of Maruzen. I just got the notice from the somewhat chastened staff there after they had gotten my complaint. Supposedly there was a miss on the Oxford side of things but at least the staffer who responded to my letter had the good grace to not make that an excuse for the lousy aftercare. It's coming in on the 2nd so I'll go and grab it then since I've got a huge hole in the schedule on that day between Miss Sedona and the Music Man...would love to get his thoughts on Michael Jackson.

I guess it didn't take long. Since Presley's death in 1977, there have been all sorts of Elvis sightings over the decades, and I don't mean the Elvi in Las Vegas. Now that MJ has gone off to do his moonwalking in other dimensions, according to Jeanne Moos' little highlight at the end of "The Situation Room", the whole of New York may have gotten their first Michael sighting yesterday, thanks to some unusual cloud patterns over Manhattan. Apparently, they're called mammatus clouds since they look like udders; whatever they are, they looked just plain weird...like lumpy mushrooms hanging upside down. One formation may have taken on the shape of the lately departed King of Pop himself. Thriller, indeed.

Tuesday June 30, 4:15 p.m.

The juku boss is kinda feeling troubled since that hyperactive girl who had gone into conniptions last Friday has decided to continue her lessons at the juku. The boss isn't quite sure about how to handle her and she was actually looking forward to seeing her quit...if only for the boss' peace of mind. However, she's back. I just said to the boss that if she acts up one more time, then the boss can have her ousted.

Speaking of troubled children, apparently the media has been chatting aloud about that press conference by Joseph Jackson, the father of the deceased King of Pop. Apparently, at one point, Papa Joe had to convince the media that he was actually crying on the inside if not exactly showing his grief on the outside. Perhaps he had undergone the Vulcan custom of Kohlinar. Also, he apparently decided to do a bit of self-promotion on something which had the reporters scratching their heads. Don Lemon of CNN was trying to give the guy the benefit of a doubt....maybe he was still in shock. Well, as for me, I'm in no doubt. I think Joe is a bit of a sociopath. Always has been.

And speaking of other sociopaths...one did get a very public comeuppance last night JST. Bernie Madoff (love the name...speaks volumes of his actions). got the century-and-a-half from a hanging judge in New York for that grand Ponzi scheme. Unlike what the judge thought, I don't think even 150 years will deter con artists from plying their trade. Sociopaths live in their own reality. Deterrence doesn't mean much to them. The 150 years is just a salve for the victims.

Tuesday June 30, 2:01 p.m.

Had to re-wash most of my laundry from yesterday since it got drenched in that un-forecast rainstorm last night (at least, I didn't hear anything of it yesterday morning....those were a lot of sun icons I saw on the TV).

Man, that translation of all those ceramics articles are just killing me. I almost had a nervous breakdown getting through the one on Mino Ware. I gave the Beehive ladies a look at it this morning. They agree....even Mrs. Tee was squinting at the fine print, and she's an expert. Speaking of Tee, she was in one of her doldrums again for some reason. The other ladies took it in stride, though. Just one of those phases she heads into now and then.

The Michael Jackson hoopla has finally settled down. Now it's just the interminable wait for the toxicology reports to come out in a few weeks' time. I was going over some of the various footage when the breaking news came in last Friday morning JST on YouTube. Yup, it was big. Of course, the talking heads are now starting to rattle off on his legacy and on what made him tick. There was a special half-hour on him on BBC last weekend. The panelists were just going apoplectic on whether one could divide his bizarre personal life with his professional talented one.

Monday June 29, 11:59 a.m.

The screws are being tightened on me. I told The Cornerette about those translations are taking time and that they may not be totally done until early next week. She was blissfully ignorant of my crisis and just asked if she could get them by this morning. Ah, well...no. As it is, I've only been able to get one of the remaining half-dozen articles into her. I'd be lucky to get them in by Wednesday.

A bit of the unlucky day yesterday. The Coffeemaker pulled another no-show yesterday morning. I got the e-mail stating that she had come down with a touch of food poisoning. It was unfortunate that I had to put her on notice on such a bad occasion but I frankly don't want to end up twiddling my thumbs again so I just told her sweetly to make sure that she leave a message on my machine next time.

It's been 2 months since I ordered that DVD for Mr. Jyuppie's lessons from Maruzen. And yet, no DVD. I sent them a polite but firm letter complaining about their service.

Then, I had to make haste through steady rain after The Jyuppies' lessons to try to reach the Picadilly by 5 (almost impossible) to meet up with MB, The Sylph and Frodo to catch "Terminator: Salvation". Well, MB and Frodo had their heads in their hands which meant that they weren't too thrilled with it. Frodo especially wanted to burn McG in effigy. They are definitely sticklers for a coherent plotline. I was OK with it but even I was scratching my head over the fact that Skynet had John Connor right in its sights and within itself, and chose only to send one Arnie Terminator to take care of it. All I can say is that I wouldn't want to put Frodo and Megan Fox in a room together. In her usual profane way, she made it quite clear what she thought about critics of "Transformers 2". Still, I can say that I've actually caught two Anton Yelchin movies this year.

It was ironic that I'd had lunch at the Freshness Burger nearby the Jyuppies place. After the movie, MB took all of us to the JS Burger place across from Takashimaya Times Square. My cholesterol probably shot higher than the most excessive Michael Bay explosion last night. My regular burger at Freshness Burger was very juicy while the chili burger over at JS was pretty good as well.

Today, it'll be fairly slow. I've got the return of The Nurse after more than 6 months away. Then, it'll be The Full-Timer and Medicine Man tonight.

Saturday June 27, 1:33 p.m.

I've spent the past 5 hours just puttering away at translation. I'm not quite ready to call it a day yet since I have The Publicity Assistant in about half an hour. It's gotten quite a bit more full with staff since I'd last talked. Bay, La Fille and the bossman himself have all come in in the last hour to do a cleanup before this private cooking party concocted by Speedy and Mr. Influence gets under way a half hour after I finish with The PA. I've managed to get two articles done and sent off to The Cornernette. I did get some sort of missive from her but I've not bothered to open it up. I just want to get the stuff done.

Since there will be a party happening soon after I'm done, I think getting more translation work done is now a moot point. I'll be heading home and I'll continue all this tomorrow.

Saturday June 27 2009 AD (1 ADM), 8:22 a.m.

The "1 A.D.M" stands for "After The Death of Michael"...yeah, I know I know...I'm being rather curmudgeonly here. However, you and I both know that "The Onion" beat me to the punch.

As for the aftermath of the death of The King of Pop, when I got back home after my stint at the juku, CNN and BBC were back to normal broadcasting parameters (imagine that!), and now the journalists' classic questions of Who, What, Where, When, Why and How are back to the fore. Aside from the dedicated Michael Jackson community on Mixi, it would seem that the average Joe on the streets of Tokyo have expressed mild surprise but not much more than that. I haven't seen any sudden shrines being set up in Ginza or Shibuya like they have been in Hollywood. Probably because Tokyo is the city of the young with Shibuya being the Mecca, and Michael Jackson to the current generation is probably seen more as Wacko Jacko than as The King. However, everyone that I did meet yesterday had seen the coverage.

That former student from way back in my JET days has started further dialogue with me. Apparently to her, I was the impetus for her to start her life traveling the US and then eventually find her hubby and kid. Well, I don't think I can really handle all that much responsibility so I'll just quietly demur.

Yep, I'm here way early today so that I can try to get those translations done before my lone class with The Publicity Assistant gets underway mid-afternoon.

Friday June 26, 8:29 p.m.

Had a bit of an existential storm today which may have finally abated. At Speedy's, I received a letter from The Cornerette in a tone which may have hinted at the slightly panicked about where my articles were. I had warned her the night before that it would take a few days to get them translated due to the difficulty of the material and the fact that I had a main job. I answered her query as quickly as possible so that she wouldn't have a meltdown...at least, not from waiting. I always had the suspicion that she was a bit more high-strung than The Corner. I just told her that I was sorry I couldn't get the articles done fast enough but that I would try my best to get them over to her. And then I started thinking about putting in some extra hours at the I-Cafe again and going in early to Speedy's tomorrow to get them done. And then I started getting rather depressed about things....and the thought that The Cornerette might have me dumped as Royal Translator.

And then I arrived at the juku tonight at about 6. When I came into the genkan, I overheard a rather serious discussion amongst the boss with that young hyperkinetic girl she's been teaching on Tuesday nights and her grandmother. It sounded rather stormy so I decided to quietly leave and just hang out in the nearby Tsutaya CD/bookstore for an hour or so. When I came back, I saw a van parked outside so I knew that the kid's mother had joined the fray. Well, I wasn't going to just hang back again, so I took my chances and went on in. This time, the boss could hear me do so, and the family was about to take off. Things had apparently cooled off considerably compared to an hour before. The boss told me that the little girl had a meltdown of sorts (seems to be catching these days) about not wanting to take an exam for a certain junior high school that her mother had demanded that she go for and was afraid to tell her. The tantrum made the boss call for familial support. Basically, the boss told the girl that it would ultimately be up to her to decide what she would want to do in the future...whether or not she wanted to come back to the juku.

It wasn't quite an epiphany, but after hearing that report, I decided that it wasn't worth getting all worked up about not having those translations on time. I've already proven myself to The Corner and he knows how I work. It might take time but I get the job done. The Cornerette should have known this from The Corner. My mistake was that I had decided to take on the job in the first place, but then I didn't know that it would be so hard, although the education in Japanese ceramics has been fun...really. I'll do the best I can...I will go in early tomorrow and plow through as much as I can before The Publicity Assistant's lesson some hours later, and if she feels that that isn't good enough for her, she can fire me. At my rates, she couldn't believe me that I was actually a professional translator.

I saw The New Yorker for the first time since her return from Hawaii last week. She enjoyed it immensely and so she's now hoping to get a chance out there, instead of New York.

I also found out from the juku boss that apparently Suzanne took my advice really to heart. She's skipping out from class altogether for the next month or so...and perhaps permanently since apparently she can no longer take working at the supermarket. I told the boss all about the tense atmosphere there and she was able to put two and two together. Well, my Tuesdays are looking especially sparse now.

Friday June 26, 10:17 a.m.

The Michael Jackson Mixi community hasn't been idle on the news of the death of its idol. There have been a lot of one-line comments expressing shock and disbelief. Saw some person-on-the-street interviews by Japanese reporters in the US. Comments have ranged from tearful to frankly "why-are-you-bothering-me-about-this-freak". Pretty much par for the course.

Friday June 26, 9:11 a.m.

"The day the music died...."

It's that famous line in "American Pie" which referred to the passing of Buddy Holly in 1959 in a plane crash. In that same year, a teen group called The Quarrymen was playing their brand of skiffle only to metamorphosize into The Beatles a few years later. I hadn't been born then but I was definitely on this Earth in late 1980 when John Lennon of The Fab Four was gunned down by a psychopath in front of the Dakota apartments and his wife. That line was probably used in all of the newspapers and other media outlets on that day as part of their tribute. In that year, Michael Jackson was getting his awards for "Off The Wall"; a few years later, he would hit legendary status with "Thriller".

And now, the line is probably being used over and over on CNN, BBC and elsewhere today and maybe for the next week.

I'd woken up this morning for another early departure to Speedy's. I turned on BBC to do a quick check of the headlines. I was expecting another media report on the tete-a-tete between the world and Iran. I did get that, but then came some breaking news that Michael Jackson had been whisked away to hospital in Los Angeles for what was being described as heart problems. A couple of hours later, I come to Speedy's, turn on the computer, and find out that The King of Pop has died.

The CNN and BBC sites had his face and headlines right at the top; I tried to check out his fansites but they were impossible to access for unsurprising reasons. I turned on the TV here and almost all of the Japanese wide shows had changed their schedule (talking about the latest dismembering incident or the latest hot restaurant has its limits) to cover his death. I saw a huge crowd in front of the hospital where he'd been taken. I was reminded of that morning in November 1980 when I'd woken up and my mother told me about John Lennon's passing while his songs were playing on the radio. For that matter, I was reminded of the day in August 1977 when Elvis Presley had passed on and how the masses formed in front of Graceland.

To be honest, although it was initially shocking to hear of his death (my memory still reveals him as that hurricane who whirled about with abandon in the "Thriller" video and as the guy who had brought down the Apollo Theatre some years before with his introduction of the moonwalk to the masses), I wasn't surprised. The court appearances, his facial warpage, his loss of Neverland, the downturn in his career, the media switcheroo campaign to show him not as The King of Pop but more as the Court Jester would've killed anyone earlier. And frankly, I couldn't see this guy living all that much longer; I can't imagine how he would've looked at the age of 70 with that face.

It's been 3 days of the deaths of 3 icons. I mentioned about Ed McMahon yesterday, and how he and Johnny Carson kept folks happily awake way past their bedtime for 30 years. Then came yesterday's news that Farrah Fawcett, the face and leonine hair that adorned teen bedroom walls and T-shirts in the late 70s for being the first Charlie's Angel, died at 62 from cancer. Larry King probably had some big show on her tonight. But for the world, Michael Jackson is the big one. The one who'll launch a Mississippi-sized river of tears, a sun's worth of candlelight vigils and multiple playings of his albums for the next several days. Of course, I'm sure the vicious recriminations will begin against the prosecution team and the media in due course. But for now, the theme of the day will be tears and shock.

But the tragic thing that links all three of these now late celebs is their circumstances. From what I've read on Ed McMahon, he had been suffering some horrible financial dire straits along with the bone cancer that finally claimed him. As for Farrah Fawcett, a lot of folks had been seeing her as having gone over the deep end mentally starting with that weirdo appearance on Letterman. And of course, all of the rigamarole concerning Jackson.

But for the current generation and the last, Michael Jackson will be the one today for whom the quote "The day the music died..." will be on as heavy a rotation as one of his old songs.

Thursday June 25, 7:17 p.m.

Well, my day is about to end soon. Finished with The Carolinan 20 minutes ago; she and The New Yorker had a good time in Hawaii as usual. The school got a omiyage in the form of the usual Macadamia Chocolates.

Like it when I can pull off what I set out to do. Managed to hit Kinokuniya in Shinjuku and pick up that text for the juku boss; yes, she wants to get back to learning from me again although I have my doubts whether she's the type that will continue for long. And I even managed to get into Krispy Kreme #1 and pick up a dozen for the gang here at Speedys. Both Ray and La Fille hadn't had the cholesterol bombs in some years so were quite grateful at reacquainting themselves.

Thursday June 25, 11:08 a.m.

Last night, as I was just about ready to go home, I came across a sight that would've chilled La Fille, AK and Bay to the bone. Saw 3-4 cockroaches of mini-Toyota size skittering around the kitchen. Speedy and I decided to see how many of them we could catch, but at our advanced age, we were only able to maim one and then throw him/her out the window...kinda like what's happening in Iran. Of course, since I don't have any fear of gokiburi, I had no qualms of picking up the critter by hand and then giving him the heave-ho. Well, this morning, I brought in 3 Roach Motels and set them up. I'm pretty sure within 24 hours, we'll have some vacancies filled.

It'll be a fairly slow day. Just Grandma FON and Miss Sedona, and then The Carolinan a few hours later. Miss Temporary and The Music Man have canned their lessons, so I may find myself heading home quite a bit early tonight. Not too much time to do the translations but I hope to have at least a few hours. I have to head into Takashimaya Times Square in the interim to get a text for the juku boss. If I'm very lucky, I may just be able to grab some Krispy Kreme for the gang back here....but not the roaches.

Gotta give my tribute to the late Ed McMahon since I used to be an avid Tonight Show watcher during the Johnny Carson heyday. Always loved his gravelly, barely-c0ntained laugh, especially when Johnny was bombing with a joke. Ed, you were right, sir!

Wednesday June 24, 10:18 p.m.

Well, this has been one for the record books. Not only have my two students for tomorrow cancelled out, but in one fell swoop, The Fashion Designer cancelled for tonight. And the kicker is that tonight ended up being The Diver's final lesson. I'd been wondering how she was going to pass the test I had for her considering that she couldn't even construct a decent question after one year of coming here, and she solved the problem by pulling out. Of course, the bossman was fairly panicky about the reasoning, but as it turned out, she's leaving for a good reason (that is, besides the fact that she was frankly spinning her wheels here)...she found a job at a hospital that starts from next Wednesday. I wished her well...she's a nice lady but I think it's time for her to get back into the swing of things.

But that was plenty weird with all of these cancellations. I would almost think that someone up there seeing that I had all of these translations was giving me a hand with some extra time, although I've called it a night for translating tonight. However, I still have to head on out to Shinjuku tomorrow afternoon after Miss Sedona's lesson to pick up a textbook for the juku boss. And then I have The Carolinan, post-Hawaii.

Ah, as for that latest warped picture...that is Le Petit Troquette, a French restaurant just on the outskirts of gyaru-and-tout-boy infested Shibuya. Last Saturday, the entire crew of Speedy's went out there on La Fille's recommendation for a bit of a dinner. The interior definitely had its Gallic charm. I had the course for about 2,800 yen...reasonable as far as French cuisine goes in this burg. Got my terrine, got my stewed beef in wine sauce.

Well, it's the time where I would've wrapped up with The Fashion Designer. However, I had a good time just decompressing from all of that translation work tonight over the hour. But now, I'll just head on home.

Tuesday June 23, 9:05 p.m.

Man, the drama keeps on going. Well, I exaggerate a bit with The Milds. Mr. Mild was feeling a bit out of sorts since his e-mail to me didn't get through for some reason. I checked my Gmail to make sure that it hadn't been neglected, and sure enough, there was no such message from him. I decided to send him one of my own in good faith. Mrs. Mild wasn't laden down with a migraine but she was still pretty weak grammatically.

Looks like that model lesson student from last week is a lock. He'll be starting from July for a 45-minute (!) session. Apparently, according to his wife, he can't really deal with an hour. So, Mr. White has entered the juku....which means it's time to get him a textbook as well plus CD. This time, I'm doing business with Kinokuniya. I'm still waiting for Maruzen to get me that last DVD for Mr. Jyuppie and it's approaching 2 months. Not sure what is up with that store. I don't think even places in the States are that slovenly.

Anyways, I'm heading home to decompress before hitting bed.

Tuesday June 23, 7:46 p.m.

Well, found out why Suzanne has been so down in the dumps in the last couple of weeks. Looks like that stalker co-worker has been hassling her again. Although I think it's more a case of mutual dislike now. But from what she told me, it's part of a rather larger, more disturbing pattern in her workplace involving racism. I think what's eating her more is that it all started from an attempt to help him. Those proverbs come to mind: "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions" and "No good deed goes unpunished". Far from happy witticisms but all too true. It was definitely me as counselor today. She even asked me if I knew any psychologist. I know rich folk, coffee enthusiasts, singers and doctors but no mental health professionals. I don't think she needs one quite yet but I did tell her that if she allows herself to continue on in this way, she will need one.

The juku boss is entertaining some mothers about their kids' class downstairs.

Since I don't have The Admin tomorrow, I'm pretty much free and clear until the Wednesday night lineup. I may actually pick up a dozen of those Krispy Kreme donuts in Shinjuku if my theory on the relatively sweet spot hour of 12-1 holds out.

Tuesday June 23, 4:05 p.m.



I remember a movie from a couple of years ago called "A History of Violence", directed by David Cronenberg (director of all those 70s horror movies and "The Fly"...I met him once; nice guy, not as tall as I'd thought he'd be) and starring that actor who had played Aragorn in "Lord of The Rings". It's about a mild-mannered cafe owner whose very sordid and heretofore hidden past comes racing toward him at warp speed to haunt him. Watched it with MB in one of the tiny artsy theatres just south of Ginza; good, violent and underrated movie.



Then, there are other similar movies and TV episodes ranging from "Casablanca" and that Classic Trek episode called "Obsession" and that TNG ep called "The Pegasus". All show one of the main characters getting hit with a past that one would rather forget.



Well, I've just had a similar moment. And it came out in TV-friendly cliffhanger fashion. I was just wrapping another 3-hour cycle at the I-Cafe. Got one more article translated, watched the usual YouTube shenanigans, and checked what was up at Mixi. I decided to check Gmail one more time before signing off. I got a message there that a new person had sent me a message onto Facebook. Gmail gave me the full account of the message, and so I found out that the messagemaker is an old student, in fact one of my very first ones in my career, during my days as a JET teacher in the far-flung mountains of Gunma Prefecture 20 years ago. She has a first name that I came across a lot amongst the students there, but her last name is firmly Western, so obviously she tied the knot with someone distinctly un-Japanese. Facebook may have sprouted roots in Japan recently but it's still firmly American so I gather that she may not be living in this country. When I logged on there, I checked her account. Restricted access...fine, her picture showed presumably herself with two other ladies. I couldn't really recognize who she was since she was obviously no longer wearing the junior high school uniform...at least, as long as she's not working in that industry. In any case, I sent out a rather neutral sounding reply confirming her question that, yep, that was who I was.



Now, why do I sound so glum about this? Well, I'm not exactly proud of my time there in my very first post-university job. One of my old colleagues in the programme who was about a good decade older than me talked of the Arrogant 20s when he referred to the younger folks in JET. I guess to him I wasn't nearly as bad, but to me I would have to disagree. One of the big criticisms I have about the Japan Exchange and Teaching programme is that it takes (or took) these university grads with degrees that often didn't have anything to do with teaching and souls that were still in adolescence, shipped them over en masse to The Land of The Rising Yen every August, and then unleashed them into the public education system with tons of money, a car and even a free house to boot. Talk about introducing nitro with glycerin. I wasn't quite as bad as some of them, but I still look upon my time there with little pride. All teachers start out as bad teachers...that's a fact, and that's just the folks who did come out of teaching school. I was basically a walking "Airplane" movie...throw out the stuff and see what sticks to the wall. Well, I had my successes but a lot of screwups as well, not just professionally but personally. All that money, privilege with the typical cocksure attitude of a typical guy in his twenties didn't make for a great mix. And by the end of my tenure there, I think both me and my town were quite happy to see the backside of each other. I made one more return to that town a few years later....the start of my current tenure here 15 years ago...a few of the former students made it fairly clear that I wasn't exactly welcome, although it was a student (not the student who sent me today's message) who had invited me to her seijinshiki (adulthood day ceremony) in January 1995. Since then, I've had no contact. And so here we are. Not sure what to make of the situation. Today's message read quite well; obviously, she'd had much better education since junior high school. Well, I guess I'll just do the Facebook equivalent of

Tuesday June 23, 12:15 p.m.

Spring may have come in with a whimper, but Summer has certainly come in with all guns blazing. It's going up to 32 degrees C today. Just about time to turn on the AC but I'm gonna see if I can hold off for at least one more week...just until Canada Day comes around.

Medicine Man got a nearly perfect score on the test last night. And he seemed to be more forthcoming in his answers in class. We were doing the chapter on wealth...considering his profession, I think we were well within his income bracket. Speaking about my more medically-inclined students, The Nurse is coming back next Monday after well more than 6 months away. Hope she's doing OK. Now, if The Yogist makes it back, it'll truly be ol' Home Week.

The Entrepreneur and his wife are making their big move into a house out in Mississauga next week. Ah...must be nice to have the funds to do that sorta thing.

I was wrapping up things in the main lounge after Medicine Man's class when I heard a shriek from one of our staffers from the kitchen. Another roach decided to make an unwelcome appearance. Pretty big critter, too, as they all are in this country...could be the water. Anyways, since I have no fear of roaches, I just nonchalantly picked it up in my hands and let it go out the window. It'll be back, probably.

The Admin has cancelled her class tomorrow which means that my schedule is getting even lighter. So, it'll be another night-class-only session for midweek. Can't complain since I still have another batch of translation assignments from The Cornerette.

Monday June 22, 9:00 p.m.

Good golly. We are officially in summer now. Outside of the air conditioned zone in Speedy's, it feels like someone has been perpetually spraying warm mist into the air. Not quite ready to throw on the AC quite yet but I bet within a week or so, I'll be crazed enough to throw away some yen for it.

Mr. TOEIC came in tonight...smelling rather rank as he usually does after a day on the job. He spoke a bit on the Orquesta De La Luz CD I'd lent him last week. He said it was pretty interesting although he didn't mention about the Keisuke Kuwata-penned final song.

Just have Medicine Man. I have to check his test. And hopefully, he's passed with flying colours.

Monday June 22, 6:32 p.m.

Well, just one of those things, I guess. The Full-Timer never made it to the station though I waited til 6:15. She called up the school and then I got an e-mail from her saying that there had been a schedule change in her interview which meant that she was still at another subway station when I'd already got back here. No big problems, though. She's already earned her trust from me.

I got some emergency translations into The Cornerette just now so I hope that she will give me a bit of leeway with those two remaining articles from last week. However, I have a third batch in my e-mail right now.

Monday June 22, 2:39 p.m.

Humid as all hell out there. Just a prototypically moist day in Rainy Season. However, it looks like my week won't be too busy although I've spent a fairly hectic 3 hours at the I-Cafe once again trying to get those never-ending translations done for The Cornerette. I've only got three tonight: The Full-Timer, Mr. TOEIC and The Medicine Man. And I've also got a very late start for tomorrow as well with just the juku classes.

Saturday June 20, 1:47 p.m.

I'm halfway through the lessons. I had the guys earlier with Mr. TOEIC and The Intellectual. Mr. TOEIC and I didn't make much headway into the text since we got into our occasional sidetracking. This time, it was hats since he was sporting one when he came in. Looks like he's been into Trilbys lately. As for The Intellectual, he has the constitution of Mr. Freeze. Even earlier in the winter, he always came in profusely sweating. I can only imagine the hell he goes through during times like these. I turned on the air conditioner extra strong for him.

Bay had quite a thrill the other day at her other job working at a museum. Apparently, former PM Koizumi...the charismatic Lionhead himself...strode in for a look-see at the exhibits. She assured me that he didn't get into any Elvis renditions.

Saturday June 20, 9:16 a.m.

My shoulders are feeling especially granitic today. Don't know why...maybe age is sending me a message. The juku boss noticed my groaning as I tried out that yoga move that The Yogist had taught me last year. She took a few pokes at my back and proclaimed that she found a new geological formation. Well, another surprise came in the form of The Ace who actually didn't come. Just about 10 minutes passed into his lesson time, and he's the one who usually shows up 10 minutes ahead of time. Well, with only a half-hour lesson, that's a mighty large chunk of change that he's given up. Then at the 15-minute mark, the call came in to say that he was just leaving work at that moment.

I've got four today...Mr. TOEIC, The Intellectual, The Publicity Assistant (it's been almost 2 months for her since she'd come in last time) and The Smile. Then, it's a French dinner for us here at Speedy's...La Fille came up with this idea since she's the local expert on all things Gallic. We're supposed to be going to this place in Shibuya after work. So, I had Italian last night and it's French today. It's gonna be a high-cholesterol weekend.

Strangely enough, The Bow and The Bass were talking about mortality yesterday, and this morning the news came in that the world's oldest man finally bought that long-awaited farm...of course, he's Japanese. For a 113-year-old, he looked pretty good...no more than 105, I'd say.

Friday June 19, 7:24 p.m.

The sun was back which means so was the heat. Definitely needed the GATSBY wipes today. The nights are still cool (sounds ominously like an Air Supply lyric).

It looks like my alternating Fridays will have both The Bow and The Bass. Strangely enough, though the two have never met and several kilometres separate them in terms of teaching venue, we ended up getting into the talk about whether they would be willing to live to 100. The Bass said what most people would say in that as long as he was fairly lucid and walking about, he wouldn't mind. As for The Bow, she came up with a rather interesting answer; she said that she would probably like to die within 20 years. I guess living with one's parents that long would do that to one. If I had still been doing that, I wouldn't haven't been here....in every sense of the word.

Between The Bass and The Bow, I stopped off to get the final phase of my passport renewal done. And that was to drop off at Ichikawa City Hall and get my gaijin card updated with the new info concerning the new passport. The young lad who took care of me didn't retch when he saw my passport picture....rather sporting of him. Now, that the passport is now officially in service, I'll have to get that Air Canada ticket.

A better part of an hour later after that interminable ride on the Sobu Line, I did my regular visit to Takashimaya Times Square. It was definitely a typically June day in The Big Sushi...sunny, plenty of strategically placed green trees, and a thin film of smaze throughout the atmosphere Didn't see anything worth buying at Kinokuniya so just went over to HMV. I was a bit interested in the latest Shena Ringo single...the one with her provocatively looking rather lacking in clothing and showing her back scar from a childhood operation. However, it wasn't the song that I'd seen via her latest video clip on MTV Japan last night...I guess she may be in her mid-Madonna or mid-Cyndi Lauper phase...y'know, do a video without any clothes (maybe I should also mention Alanis Morrissette)...she seemed to have been just wearing a silk sheet for the entirety of the video and making some rather suggestive moves with an electric guitar plug-in cord (you just have to see it). In any case, I'm pretty certain she'll be going completely starkers one of these days. I held off on the purchase since there is a full album coming out next week.

Along with the topic of mortality, The Bow and I also spoke on prodigies, since instead of joining The Sisters of State and me for burgers a couple of weeks ago, she went to see a virtuoso violinist perform. Apparently, the violinist had been one of those child geniuses. Also, there was that news of that homegrown 20-year-old blind pianist recently who had gotten one of those huge world prizes. When I mentioned that tried-&-true proverb about that fine line between genius and madness, the name Yayoi Kusama came up. She is this artist who's had this reputation for using nothing but polka dots in her works. She's also probably a schizophrenic and currently lives in an asylum. The Bow had gone to an exhibition at a cafe in Roppongi Hills a few years ago. I'd also heard about this exhibition. The cafe chinaware and even the dessert had the signature Kusama polka dots imbued in them. Also, she told me that there had been a song writte and sung by the artist herself on heavy rotation within the cafe. The song was on suicide and apparently the lyrics were so appalling that the staff begged to just play it once per hour...lest the song became self-prophesing. Another local on the fine line that came up in conversation was Fujiko Hemming, a famed classical pianist. Apparently, her choice of clothing comes from a century ago and probably hasn't been washed in that time frame.

Had my usual dinner at The Restauranteur's place again. I went for the Chicken Saute. The place was slightly more bustling with one middle-aged lady nearby, and a mother with her two children in front of me. That's about as busy as I'd ever seen it there.

"Terminator: Salvation" is coming our way from tomorrow. The crusty reviewer in METROPOLIS gave it a firm thumbs-down, calling it boring. Meanwhile, the folks in EMPIRE Magazine gave it a very big thumbs-up. So, anything goes really.

Thursday June 18, 11:14 a.m.

The student dropout rate continues...at least, where my schedule is concerned. Now, Miss Honolulu has cancelled today....which means I'll be done by 1:45. At this rate, I may even enjoy an aperatif before the sun goes down. Nah, I exaggerate...still have to get on the second batch of translations. And I have to get some exercises done for The Restauranteur for tomorrow night.

Wednesday June 16, 7:55 p.m.

Ugh! What a night last night. Stepped out of the juku to head back home...ended up soaked to the bone within 2 minutes, thanks to that deluge. Some of my texts were partial victims. Luckily, things are a lot drier today.

I met The Admin for the first time in over 2 weeks. Both of us have been busy. We had a great time chatting about music once more. However, the nice fuzzy atmosphere in the family restaurant was somewhat shattered while The Admin was paying the bill when what looked like another yakuza-esque thug was in the lobby screaming into the phone. If there was one thing that I would've loved to have seen exterminated during The Occupation, it would be these monsters.

I got those last two articles done for The Cornerette. Most of my afternoon was devoted to getting all those kanji changed into English characters. I was so lucky that Mr. Mild provided the furigana; otherwise, my work would've gone far into the next day. As it is, I sent the completed translations about 30 minutes ago. The Cornernette threw me another batch, but it looks like these ones are far smaller than the behemoths that I got earlier this week.

And it looks like I'll be getting a lot of time to get them done in. Both The Cracker and The Music Man, my Thursday evening students both cancelled today. Which means I'll be done by mid-afternoon. If I get those translations done, I may actually enjoy an early Thursday night off.

The Diver should be headed into the door any minute now. And then it'll be The Fashion Designer to wrap up. Both have got tests coming up, but as usual, I'll always be worried about The Diver.

Tuesday June 16, 9:21 p.m.

Well, the Rainy Season has truly made its presence felt in The Big Sushi. Right now as I type, it's just pouring just about every cat that's not Toonces along with every dog out there. I'm trying to delay my departure for home until I get a lull in the maelstrom; with my luck, that probably won't happen. Yesterday was pretty bad, too, but tonight is taking the cake with a lot of thunder and lightning.

The Milds came in with Mr. Mild having a lot of legwork for me with that translation on Japanese ceramics from The Cornerette. He also informed me that there were some vital errors in kanji in the original which (sigh) explained why I spent several minutes racking my brains on the weekend about them. He was even kind enough to throw in pictures and furigana, which basically cuts my racking time in half.

About that new guy....The Man From Glad....he's prematurely gray, as I have mentioned. The juku boss gave me some further insight about him. Apparently, he was a real go-getter in his company; certainly, I saw some of that tonight in his model lesson. But he burned himself out which would explain his hair...the man's younger than me!

Tomorrow (weather permitting) should be a strangely quiet day for me, compared to the Hump Days that I'd had recently. Not only will I not need to get in early, but I only have three lessons tomorrow: just the morning kaffeeklatsch with The Admin and then two-thirds of the usual Wednesday night crew since 001 is now showing up. Should have lots of time to get that last batch of translation work done.

Tuesday June 16, 7:39 p.m.

Well, Suzanne was atypically irritable. Not that she took it out on me or anything but she seemed to be ill at ease. Not sure if it was that stalker co-worker of hers or some consternation about her upcoming trip to New York. However, I did say that I would concoct some stuff to help her prepare.

As for that model lesson student, he's a pretty gregarious fellow...prematurely gray for some reason; he did say that he's had to take time off work due to some sort of illness. However, he seems promising but said that he won't start til July, so the jury's still out whether he will truly become a regular.

Tuesday June 16, 4:22 p.m.

Good news on Toonces the Juku Cat. He's back at home, safe and sound. The boss told me that the poor puss had gotten himself trapped in an abandoned house not 50 m away from here on Friday night along with a black Persian. The boss was lucky that her neighbour had heard Toonces' plaintive wails and called her up. It was then just a matter of heading over there and plucking him out.

I got that model lesson in about 40. Just a half hour, though, so not all that much we can do. I made copies of the 1st chapters of a few texts, but I think I'll do my old faithful of Adverbs of Frequency.

Happily, my cable company has finally been able to solve that automatic bank transfer problem with my monthly bills.

Tuesday June 16, 12:39 p.m.

Incredible though it may seem, we're already halfway through the 6th month. Incredible thought it may seem, I survived a 20-hour day yesterday. Yup, woke up at the eye-blearing hour of 4 in the morning so that I could have breakfast and head on out to Immigration in the boonies of Shinagawa to get my visa and re-entry permit transferred into my new passport. It was the usual snake-like line of foreign residents in front of the doors of the massive centre (I think if the government ever allows Hollywood to film there, the Tokyo Regional Immigration Centre can easily pass for the Japanese equivalent of the Pentagon). At 8:30, the line quickly turned into a gigantic scrum up the escalator. Luckily for me, my task didn't necessitate speed. All I had to was fill out a Transfer of Information form and then line up initially at Station A. And then 15 minutes later, the transfer took place. I was out of there by 9:18 a.m.

One of the reasons that I can tolerate the early-morning trek to Immi is that afterwards I can have some sort of meal in the restaurant area of JR Shinagawa. As expected, Nathan's the hot dog chain was officially dead and buried, in terms of its life in Tokyo. Now there was a New York's Subs. Took a look at the menu...didn't seem like the stuff that I would have for breakfast so I ended up having a buffet brunch at the larger restaurant...the one that usually becomes an oyster bar in the evening. The brunch there cost me just 880 yen; it wasn't a particularly rich selection: no greasy sausages, no pancakes or Belgian waffles. However, it did have the requisite toast, corn soup, and various other carbs. I had a Japanese-style pasta with shirasu...the tiny white fish....it was slightly disconcerting eating my noodles while several dozen pairs of eyes were looking up at me, but I got over the guilt trip pretty quickly.

Took the Yamanote Line up to Yurakucho and walked around Ginza for a while. Picked up a Father's Day card at Ito-ya the stationery shop and mailed it out a few minutes later from the adjoining post office. Often on the main corner of 4-chome, there is a TBS film crew getting some man-on-the-street interviews done; this time, there was a bit more of a celeb element in the form of bilingual TV personality Lisa Stegmeyer posing the questions. She was able to wrangle a trio of well-heeled middle-aged ladies into talking into the microphone. Before I hit the Yamanote again, I took a look downstairs in the basement of Itocia. Krispy Kreme #2 was doing business...not at the huge lineups that it had to handle last year but still it was too long a line for me to wait. I'd been thinking of perhaps grabbing a dozen for the gang at Speedy's.

SIL was fine. We spoke on the usual news of the day including the sudden resignation of the Internal Affairs Minister, Kunio Hatoyama. Not sure if he was trying to emulate the ministers in Gordon Brown's beleaguered Cabinet, and not sure if his dropping out will start a chain reaction. I doubt it, but PM Aso must not be in a good way.

Hit back to Speedys. Had The Full-Timer; she's in the middle of meeting up with a temp agency. Then, I had Mr. TOEIC for a night time class. I lent him my CD of the legendary Japanese salsa band, Orquesta de la Luz, since he had shown some interest in the genre. Finally, the Medicine Man came to wrap things up. Man, still like molasses when he answers.

Over the weekend, I contributed 6 hours of Internet time to help get those translations done for The Cornerette. I finally got a draft done last night at the very end of my shift at Speedy's. It's not very pretty but at least I got it in the day before it was due. May have to do some tweaking here and there. During that time, I met up with MB for what was supposed to be another DVD night but it actually ended up being a nice dinner with him and the missus at a great Italian restaurant near their place. Then, I just played some computer games with him on his PS3. I've been out of the PS loop for over a decade, but I had to admit that it was fun playing "Watchmen", "Lord of the Rings" and the latest "Star Wars" game.

Found out through Mixi that my old student, The Ballerina, was having some problems. I couldn't quite understand what she'd written in her diary so I sent her a private message asking what was up. Apparently, it's some labour problem at her workplace; I know all about those things too well.

This morning, my session with The Beehive was particularly lively since I showed them what I was translating for The Cornerette. Ceramics is just up their alley so they had a ball discovering how to say all that jargon in English.

Got my model lesson student at the juku tonight, just before Suzanne comes in. Have to lug in all the books. I hope the juku cat did return home.

The Bass told me about yet another student who wants my services. Well, after the protracted effort with The Action Freak, I'm gonna have to decline this time. Unless he's got time during the daytime, he's out of luck, and I believe The Bass said that the lad had just started work at his company.

Saturday June 13, 3:24 p.m.

Man, just slogging through those translations that the Cornerette dumped on me. Worked on them for nearly 3 hours; haven't even made it halfway, and now I have to head on out to MB's neck of the woods for DVD night. Well, I'm even starving so I may grab some lunch before heading out.

Had The Coffeemaker for her 60 this morning. Not sure what the situation is with the juku cat. Hope he did come back to the boss.

Friday June 12, 7:41 p.m.

Looks like Toonces the Juku Cat is out there somewhere. Usually he makes his daily rounds of the neighbourhood before heading back into the house. However, the juku boss told me that he's yet to return so she's a bit worried.

Friday June 12, 4:47 p.m.

Forgot to mention that I did get my new passport. Yup, my picture truly sucks...I mean, even for a passport photo. I swear that the photographer should've said "Gomen" when he handed the shots to me. I'm now worried that the folks at Immigration, Ichikawa City Hall and at all airports will turn to rock once they take a gander of my mug.

Friday June 12, 4:34 p.m.

Rather fit to be tied...or to be put to sleep. I'll take either. Had my four consecutive night lessons last night along with a ton of translation work, and then I had my first bit of unneeded drama on Mixi. There was a little bit of misunderstanding in one of the forums after I put something down as what I'd thought was just an innocent compliment. Well, it was taken the wrong way and I apologized both online and through private message. Luckily, the person in question came back to say that there had been no harm done. Still, concocting a proper apology note in Japanese doesn't exactly take a few minutes and with my other work, I certainly didn't need the extra stress.

Speaking of the translations, I've been trying to blaze through the various pages. I've got a lot of pages to do by Tuesday but I may have some luck by the fact that a lot of them are tour schedules. Still, I've got DVD Night with Movie Buddy tomorrow which will take a chunk out of my translating time. I may have to consider a few hours at an I-cafe before meeting up with the gang.

Will be taking off in about 20 for the juku. Just The Ace and The Restauranteur.

Thursday June 11, 11:09 a.m.

Beginning to what is a thankfully smaller Hump Day than had been expected. Grandma Dynamite is away for the rest of the month. Still, felt pretty rushed since the Tozai Line was having signal problems this morning. But no big problems.

The Cornerette seems to be one of those folks who likes to throw further addenda for me to translate. Hope I can keep up although I do have quite a few hours between Miss Sedona and The Carolinan today.

Got word from my former co-worker, The Trekkie, via e-mail that she'd seen "Star Trek", her apparent raison d'etre. Yep, she bawled her eyes out...the only one whom I could see do that for this movie. I think her seeing it again is a foregone conclusion.

Wednesday June 10, 4:36 p.m.

Not a total surprise...I got word from La Fille just now that Grandma Dynamite will be taking the rest of the month off due to an injury she suffered in Hawaii last week...apparently, it was a twisted ankle. She's always struck me as being a bit injury-prone. As much as it is a pity that she's had to suffer an indignity on her son's most important day, it also means that I don't have to do another early trip here tomorrow. Yes, that is indeed a very selfish thing to say...but frankly I don't give a flying F**K! When I have to lug my carcass across town in the wee hours of the morning to teach a lady who over the past several months has often started moaning and groaning about not feeling up to learning but still showing up, I simply will not have all that much sympathy.

Anyways, another guy who may have flown the coop is The Big Lug. I had forgotten that it was the last class on his current contract. However, he certainly didn't give the impression that he was finishing things off with us, although he said that he wouldn't be available til July. Strangely enough, the bossman looked a bit more pessimistic than I did. He asked me if The Lug had said something to me but the bossman was the one gabbing with him for a few minutes before I took over.

Taught The New Yorker in Ichigaya. She's getting ready for the big trip to Hawaii on Saturday. She did OK for her. I can only hope that she'll be spouting a few English phrases in The Aloha State.

Wednesday June 10, 10:18 a.m.

A Hump Day of sorts...got Miss Prissy and The Big Lug back-to-back and then I have to head on out to teach The New Yorker before she and her sister, The Carolinan, head on out to Hawaii this weekend. Then, it's the usual Wednesday night lineup. Kinda glad that The Admin has cancelled today.

Managed to get that first draft of the first of The Cornerette's translations done and sent over. Of course, she threw in an addendum to that first sheet.

Already starting to feel rather tired.

Tuesday June 9, 7:36 p.m.

Had a nice round with Suzanne. She's been having a bit of a drama in her life. Apparently, one of the staffers at her workplace is a bit of a nutter and has been doing a bit of stalking duty. Suzanne is pretty attractive so I can see where an obsessed fan can go a bit too far. However, she told him off and other things so he's been holding back...for now. Also, she may be heading for The Big Apple by herself for the very first time, so all of the class was talking about how to approach the solo trip to NYC. Gave her some insights from my own two trips there, including the time that a drug pusher opened up his trench coat in Central Park one morning to show us his store, so to speak. Never a dull moment there. Incidentally, I watched that "My City, My Life" feature on CNN with Candace Bushnell, the author behind "Sex and The City", talking about New York. Right from the start, she gave the sentence of the piece: "Visitors will get to New York and will either end up loving or hating New York". Suzanne's been there twice before with her family, so I assume that she falls solidly in the former category.

I've got The Milds in about 20 minutes. Wonder how I'll be approaching their lesson tonight considering last week's rather disappointing class. It was kinda like experiencing that final lesson with The Junior almost 2 years ago. All those years trying to educate and entertain the lass only to hear from her mother that she'd failed a simple test. I got out of Dodge really quickly after that.

In the middle of reading a major piece on Harry Potter in that film magazine that I'd bought on Sunday. I've seen all of the films but I can't say that I'm a huge fan of Rowling's magnum opus. Never really got into it...perhaps because it deals with teenagers...one of the subsets of humans that I avoid like the plague.

Tuesday June 9, 4:11 p.m.

Had a rather strange message from Speedy; he asked me if I still had my TESOL Certificate somewhere. I told him that it was probably gathering dust and nits somewhere in my apartment. Apparently, something is up so that he would like to prove to visiting folks that the teachers are of top calibre. Well, I'll see if I can pull it out of the frame once I get home tonight. And it looks like Speedy is gonna hand off The Cracker to me officially. It works well for all of us. Speedy can get more time to do what he needs to do for the study abroad programmes, I get a plum student, and The Cracker enjoys my company. What more can we ask for?

As for my other big employer, the juku boss, it looks like she's had a rather tough few days, but nothing to do with her recovery. Apparently, that first replacement kids' teacher on Saturday was more of a businessman than a teacher, and the second guy to come in rated a "Perhaps..." on the efficiency scale. Hey, I don't see kids and I very rarely see the kids' teacher so I don't particularly care.

Had lunch at my ol' favourite Tonki. The telly there was showing about the future ruler of North Korea, that clone of mine. He's already garnered a fair amount of notoriety in this country by showing up at Narita several years ago on a fake passport. I'm sure the media there is probably trumpeting that up by saying that the shrewd scion of Kim could fool the bourgeois Japanese puppets of the United States. Ah, me. However I am feeling for the families of those two freelance journalists who may now have to face a true Hell on Earth in a North Korean labour camp.

Bought a couple of Kyotaro Nishimura mystery novels for Dad since Father's Day is coming up at the nearby Seiyu. Just need to get the card and off they will go. Also got the first batch of the Gatsby Menthol Wipes of the season. It's starting to get plenty moist out there.

Tuesday June 9, 12:16 p.m.

Got some domestic stuff out of the way, such as finally cashing in that extra money from KDDI at the post office, and finally getting those blankets out to the cleaners. I feel sorry for those folks since they must handle a lot of funky stuff (and I mean not in the James Brown way). It'll just be the juku folks tonight.

Still have some "Star Trek" detritus to get out of my system, so you've been warned. I recently came to the surprising realization that this newest entry to the series is the only movie of said series that I've seen twice. Even "The Wrath of Khan" didn't get such repeat treatment. Mind you, back then I was just a high school kid on a very limited budget and leash. Those opening 10 minutes are still stuck in my mind; not particularly because I have an unhealthy attraction to that anime-eyed doctor on the Kelvin (I don't...really!). I think it's because I'd always wondered about a "Star Trek" movie having an epilogue in which the Klingons or other folks found themselves in some major carnage when one of the characters reaches out into space in a vain attempt of an SOS, then the theme song kicks in with the Enterprise coming to the rescue. Well, that beginning is the beginning of this movie.

However as much as I love this movie...yep, I don't have to scratch too far down to see some of the major holes in it. Whoever was the Creative Writing professor for the writers of "Star Trek" must've reached for the Jack Daniels in misery. Of course, the so-fast-my-nose-bled promotion of young Kirk from ousted Cadet to honoured Starfleet Captain pretty much broke the mold there. Not quite sure what Captain Pike was thinking when he left the Bridge for the very last time of his captaincy....one moment, he reminds Jim that he's not even supposed to be on the ship and then the next minute, he makes him First Officer....and this, during a major crisis. Later, even Spock leaves the ship putting 17-year-old Pavel Chekov in charge of the Federation flagship....again in a major crisis. That's either moxie or pretty slipshod discipline. Then, Security Guard Cupcake drags the hated Jim Kirk back to the Bridge and sees him become Captain. He must be wondering where he's gonna end up now that the guy he'd beaten into a pulp 3 years earlier is now his commanding officer. Probably cleaning engine manifolds with a toothbrush. Yup, not exactly the most logical writing there but it was still fun.

Anyways, it looks like MB is having another DVD night over at his place this weekend, which will coincide with my biweekly session with The Jyuppies since they live close by. He'll be calling up The Satyr and Miss Ivory to see if they can join up for dinner on Saturday.

Monday June 8, 7:27 p.m.

The picture on the left is of most of the Trek crew in Kabukicho a few weeks ago for the special sneak preview of the movie. No comment on whether Chris, John, Karl or Zachary decided to try out some of the more interesting aspects of the neighbourhood. Nice model of the ship.

Saw "Star Trek" for the 2nd time in as many weeks...this time, at Roppongi Hills. I had Theatre 4 which was a prototypically tiny cineplex scene. I think Chip Guy's screen in his house back in Toronto is only slightly smaller than this screen. Still, it was nice to see that it was basically a full house there for the 1:05 show as well as the 3:50 show. I picked the former one and took a seat right in the front row, so I suffered a bit of neck pain, but not unduly. I did have one fellow sitting not too far away from me who kinda smelled of one too many trips to the vending machines selling One Cup Ozeki but he was "kind enough" to sit away from me and I just used circular breathing techniques.

Seeing it a second time didn't lessen my enjoyment of the movie any. I was able to pay more attention to what everyone was saying, including the big argument around the Captain's Chair before Cadet Kirk was unceremoniously thrown off the ship by young Spock. Still got the throat lumps and the goose pimples at the appropriate moments. I think the first 10 minutes of the movie make up for the best beginning of any of the "Star Trek" films. Another observation is that compared to "The Wrath of Khan", which I'd seen all the way back in 1982 and in which all of the characters were far older than me, I realized that most of the actors in this new cast were quite a bit younger than me.

After the movie, I ended up spending nearly a couple of hours sipping away at some iced coffee in Cafe Espresso in Roppongi Hills itself. The coffee shop had that veneer of slick trendiness, including a table with a bunch of coffeetable books. Unfortunately, that attempt at added sophistication didn't prevent some of the riffraff from coming in, including a loud obnoxious gyaru just yelling away into her cellphone....someone apparently didn't instruct her that microphones were quite advanced now. My Sunday spending on luxuries didn't stop with the cafe; I ended up buying the inaugural issue of Britain's newest movie mag called "Filmstar" for 1,533 yen. Yup, pretty dear price but it did boast over 180 pages. There was an article on Quentin Tarentino's latest magnum opus, "Inglourious Basterds". That picture of crazed Eli Roth as the Bear Jew is worth the admission itstelf.

Met up with The Sisters of State at Tokyo Midtown for our burger dinner at Baker Bounce. They were pretty sussed about making yet another trip to The Aloha State from this Saturday. They were bemused and amused at my choice of Chocolate Milkshake with my Bacon Cheeseburger...hey, gotta go with the flow. The ladies enjoyed their Avocado Burgers but wouldn't bite for the apple pie as dessert. Instead, we just walked down the rest of Midtown and had some green tea over at Koots near the subway.

Today is pretty easy on the mind. I just have three lessons today. Had SIL for our usual 90-minute chat and then it was The Full-Timer. She'd been absent from last week's lesson due to her nervousness from last Tuesday's job interview. Actually, though, she did quite well and is heading for the second round of interviews tomorrow at the same place. Hope she does even better. I just have The Medicine Man to wrap up.

Tomorrow will be even easier since I only have the juku folks. Suzanne is back from her 1-week absence due to an afternoon date with her beau and then I have to do something about raising the spirits of The Milds after their rather mediocre performance last week. I can certainly use the time to spruce up the place.

Speedy is back after his second and last marathon business trip of the year. He looked at my schedule and saw how packed it was. I've quietly determined that I won't be accepting any more reservations for Wednesday and Thursday. I got a bit of relief when The Admin sent e-mail over stating that she has to cancel this week's session due to her son's school event. I will also need all the vitamin drinks I can get since I've got another pile of translations to do, thanks to The Cornerette.

Saturday June 6, 1:02 p.m.

Got that double lesson with Mr. TOEIC done. He even arrived a few minutes early. Rusty as all hell but not that noticeable since he's pretty roughshod over his structure in every class. He'll be coming in again for Thursday, sandwiched between Miss Temporary and The Music Man. I'll be drinking the Yunker for sure.

Surprisingly enough, Ray is in the house as well. Nice to keep Bay company. Still gotta prep for The Smile's lesson in a few hours and I gotta get started on those translations. Doesn't look too easy.

Will be heading to see that movie again up above tomorrow. Checked the TokyoWalker times. I'll see about catching at Roppongi Hills...I think I should be able to get in this time. It apparently has gotten a very good score according to the site's exit polls. Nice to hear but I think it'll probably fizzle out by the end of the month. Plus, watching it at the Hills will put me in proximity of Tokyo Midtown where I'm supposed to be meeting The Sisters of State for burgers at Baker Bounce. I would ask them to see the movie with me, but The New Yorker is working and I never thought that The Carolinan was much of a Trekkie anyways.

Found out that there's gonna be a "Doctor Who" convention in the ol' hometown on the 13th. Aaugh! And here I am. Ah, if there were only a TARDIS nearby....

Friday June 6, 9:48 a.m.

The rain continues...and I had to trudge myself back to Speedy's since Mr. TOEIC just needs to have a morning lesson. Bay is also here...a bit grumbly, can't say I blame her...since she'd wanted to get some personal stuff out of the way, but here we are. I can only hope that Mr. TOEIC doesn't dotakyan; I doubt that he would do it on a Saturday but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I would rather not face an angry Bay. However, I did promise her that if the unfortunate happens, I would order a Pizza Salvatore pizza on my tab.

Got those new translations from The Corner...looks like I've got 2 pages of work ahead of me. Plus The Corner isn't in charge of this project; he's shuffled me off to his colleague...The Cornerette.

Friday June 5, 7:56 p.m.

Kinda glad that this week is coming to a close. It was a pretty filled couple of days. Didn't really have time to go over the stuff for The Bass. The lesson this morning wasn't bad but the grammar section had a point that was pretty advanced even for me, and I've been doing this for 22 years now. Aargh! However, our new venue is working out pretty nicely so far. It's a cafe near JR Funabashi...not too crowded and has a decent Continental Breakfast for 500 yen.

Afterward, I got back on the train and headed for Shinjuku. I picked up the latest translated copy of "Hikaru no Go" (No. 15), so now I'm officially caught up. I'll have to wait for 3 months before the next issue comes out. I passed by Krispy Kreme; yep, I think the 12-1 slot is the sweet spot to get into the shop without having to line up. Saw The Bow at Starbucks for her lesson; ironically at the same time and just next to our table was a couple doing the same thing we did, except that it was a young lady teaching a North American guy Japanese. The Bow gave her regrets on not being to make it out for Sunday's Baker Bounce outing with me and The Sisters of State.

Made my monthly visit to The Restauranteur's pad in Urayasu. I got back my reputation as ameotoko again since the skies were spritzing precipitation. I went for the Beef Stroganoff at The Restauranteur's recommendation; yep, it also fit the bill quite nicely. Now I'll be stuck whenever I come in...will it be the Stroganoff or the Chicken Saute? I may have to do alternates. I was pretty much the only body in there until a fellow came in while I was having my after-dinner tea. Fridays are slow there. Glad I could pick Friday night for that juku dinner party late next month.

The Mixi career is booming along well. Looks like I made a friend out of a high school girl no less (OK, no calling security here....I've been a perfect gentleman); we were writing a bit too much English on the regular forum so she subtly hinted at me to switch it over to the message forums. Looks like for a kid, she has a bit more on the tact thing than I do. I seem to have also found allies within the Doctor Who and 80s Canadian Pop communities as well. I put up a topic in the Star Trek community about people's thoughts about the soundtrack for the new movie. I uploaded a literally warped picture of the disc up and the first few comments were focused on how to alleviate the problem. I thought I was gonna end up having to ditch the topic but things seem to have gotten back on track.

I heard about the death of David Carradine in Southeast Asia while filming there this morning. It looks like suicide. Man, he was 72 as well. Sad way to go considering he'd reached a certain amount of cult status, thanks to "Kill Bill".

Thursday June 4, 9:30 p.m.

Finished the day....glad that The Music Man did cancel. I was becoming rather peaked even with the vivacious Cracker in front of me. I can only shudder if I'd had one of those mute students instead of her. That new student will only be a temporary one...so, Miss Temporary has landed.

To be honest, I did have quite a bit of down time between Miss Sedona and Miss Temporary...probably around 4 hours or so, so did some more Mixi-ing. Found that the guy managing the Canadian 80s Pop community is very welcoming. Talked about The Spoons at length...ahhh, miss that "Nova Heart".

La Fille has just left the office so I'll be closing up shop once again in about half an hour. Then, I'm headed back home and this time, I hope to get some more sleep and spend some more time in my apartment. Relatively easy day tomorrow with The Bass, The Bow and then The Ace and The Restauranteur at the juku.

Got the final word from The Action Freak about the lessons. Yep, she's finally made the decision to cut ties with me which is just fine with me. It was pretty untenable to begin with, and so I know that I won't be taking any more students until there are some major changes in my current lineup.

Thursday June 4, 2:20 p.m.

Like yesterday's lesson with The Big Lug, today's lesson with Miss Sedona was a bit of a glass-wiping, peanut-serving bartender counseling session. Apparently, she's been having some problems with a senile woman from Hell and an irate fellow worker. Well, she'll just have to hold on for another 6 months before she takes off for The Great White North.

I've got a hold for a few hours so I'll probably just prepare for The Bass' lesson tomorrow morning as well as the final two lessons tonight with that new student and The Cracker.

I had been hoping for a Saturday morning off since The Intellectual cancelled but Mr. TOEIC has filled in the space with a double class.

Thursday June 4, 10:47 a.m.

Well, looks like I have had my schedule ends shaved off. Not only did I lose The Music Man tonight, but due to some sort of scheduling mixup, Grandma Tango isn't showing up. So, first up will be Grandma FON. Ray rather sheepishly apologized.

Thursday June 4, 9:43 a.m.

Another long day ahead of me, although somewhat less long than had been scheduled. I saw that The Music Man has cancelled according to today's slate. I'll have to confirm with Ray about that. If it's true, then I can go home a bit earlier....something that I will always welcome considering my days.

Last night was the usual Wednesday night lineup of ladies of 001, The Diver and The Fashion Designer. The chat with 001 sidetracked (as is usually the case and usually to her liking) to 80s videos. Incredibly, she'd never seen the music video for "Ghostbusters", so I showed her Ray Parker Jr. via YouTube, and then we went beyond the point of no return with Cyndi Lauper's "Goonies are Good Enough" and A-Ha's "Take On Me". She obviously was never exposed to MTV, so I may have lit a fire of revelation since she has a computer at home and has the day off today. The talk also lit a fire in me and I searched and joined a Mixi community dealing with 80s culture...unfortunately, it seems that the last message there had been written some weeks ago.

The Diver was her usual fidgety self with the smallest details on grammar. And The Fashion Designer came back after a few weeks away. Since she's always the last person, she always looks somewhat fatigued. I decided to get her a vitamin drink...this one with some fortified taolin. She told me that she's not a morning person. Neither am I.

Today, I've got another pair of Grandmas: Tango and FON. Then, Miss Sedona comes up followed by a few hours of respite before I've got a new student who is coming in several weeks after the initial model lesson. I can't really place the face but at least I know what she wants to work on via my log. Then, The Cracker will probably finish things off for me.

I read on the site "Trek Today", and yep, it's about that show, about an interview with former Desilu head, Herb Solow, about the new movie. I had no idea that Sulu was named after Solow. He gave his thoughts on all of the characters. He wasn't supremely impressed with the new takes on Sulu and Chekov (ouch!) but did love Kirk, Spock and McCoy. However, I have to say that all of the hoopla about Karl Urban's characterization of the irascible doctor is a tad overrated. I have to go with my original opinion of him from that one scene I'd seen of him and Kirk in the shuttle....he may be saying the famous quips but I didn't really think he resembled DeForest Kelley's "Bones".

And I just caught on CNN that the mysterious J.D. Salinger, who had written "Catcher In The Rye" all those decades ago, has surfaced to sue some fellow who is supposed to have written a sequel of sorts with a geriatric Holden Caulfield. Personally, I was never all that impressed with "Catcher In The Rye"; it just seems to be a novel of its times.

Wednesday June 3, 2:07 p.m.

Yes, 3,000th entry and I'm talking about being a counselor, not a teacher. Grandma Fado was the conventional lesson, although we had a nice little aside about the wonders of community within a sento. With Grandma Enka, it was talking about her free time going to karaoke or movies. And I ended up putting on my counselor's cap for The Big Lug since he's been having personality conflicts with his new boss. The way he described it, it was like he was Kirk and his boss was Spock...both being from the new movie. Perhaps it's no wonder that he barely made it through the line for a pass on his test. Ugh!

Well, Miss Honolulu will be coming in the next 5 minutes so I wonder what kind of session will come of that.

Wednesday June 3, 9:37 a.m.

Sent word to the bossman about Ray's hopefully temporary situation with her eye. Just didn't want him to start panicking if he called here during my lesson with Grandma Fado and noone picked up (I don't do phones, sorry).

Another warped upload...sigh. Well, I think you can still figure that this is a big pan of cream pasta with asparagus and mushrooms. This was Mrs. Tee's creation....very tasty and filling, thanks to the heavy cream involved. Mrs Tee and her family are vegetarians due to their membership in a rather ascetic religion (I've got no idea what it is, but it isn't Scientology). Believe me, I didn't miss not having any meat in it at all, and I'm a devout carnivore.

Well, next entry will be my 3,000th. Hopefully, it'll merit the number.

Wednesday June 3, 8:53 a.m.

Interesting....got a call from Ray right now; unfortunately, she may have the Mother of All Stys inside her left eye right now so she's heading for a doctor. Means that I'll be serving tea to Grandma Fado today although Ray should be coming in about 11. Certainly don't want her coming in looking like Popeye.

Not a particularly good night with The Milds. Tried to test them on the material covered in the text....frustrating, frustrating....Mrs. Mild was never one of the quickest students in my flock but couldn't believe she couldn't even answer a Yes/No question adequately. And I think I did try to teach them over the past year. Of course, they got rather dejected about it...at least, they could afford to look that way. I can't since I'm the teacher. Perhaps I approached it in the wrong way. They always came in to study English as a pastime instead of anything really serious. Promising to test them probably contravened the atmosphere. Well, I'll have to think of something else before Mrs. Mild especially ends up slinking away into her house on Tuesday nights.

Super Hump Day today. 7 lessons' worth including the usual 90 with 001. I'm definitely gonna hit the vitamin drinks tonight, lest I end up collapsing in front of The Fashion Designer. Then again, she's always looked like she would do the same too.

Tuesday June 2, 7:38 p.m.

It's been a good day for errands. Managed to pick up my cleaning and buy a new pair of leather shoes since the old ones are pretty much exhausted...and fragrant, if you know what I mean. I'm of course at the juku now, awaiting my only students of the night, The Milds.

It seems that another couple of restaurants that I knew and frequented a number of times have gone over the side. Fujimamas announced that it had closed down; not sure why...either the economy did it in (doubt it, it had a dedicated clientele) or the owner/chef Mark Vann decided it was time for a new project. The Sunday brunch there was good although I had a very sour time there a few Xmases ago due to a rather stupid waitress. Then, back on Saturday, after the bunch of us had caught "Star Trek" in Shinjuku, we ended up going to the Aussie bar, The Clubhouse nearby only to see the place thoroughly gutted; not sure if it was fire or something, but it was gone. So we just ended up going to the Indian restaurant closer to the station. I did enjoy the Clubhouse for its Crown Royals and pub fare, but got the impression that it was on somewhat shakier ground than Fujimamas.

Well, a week after all that hoopla about North Korea spouting missiles, the Hermit Kingdom has spouted a rather telling announcement. Kim Jong Il has exhorted that his successor would be his youngest son, Kim Eun (or I think that's how it's pronounced). Not sure what that means in terms of senior Kim's health or the proximity of his retirement as dictator, but I'm sure something is gonna be heading our way pretty soon.

Tuesday June 2, 4:11 p.m.

Man, a whole hour on Mixi just answering various communities, and I'm only on 15 of these places. Some of these folks are in the hundreds.

Well, we've got the first truly good day for weather and probably it'll be the only one for this week. It's darn warm out there. Very slow day today since I only had The Beehive and that was the occasional luncheon that happens whenever Mrs. Perth comes to town. We had the lunch at Mrs. Travel's place. Seriously, these ladies could open up their own little eatery with their skills if they had the inclination. They don't. Tonight, I only have The Milds since Suzanne is off with her boyfriend to watch a Lotte Marines game. I'd already told the juku boss that I would be coming in late since I just have that one class but it's probable that she'll have completely forgotten about it and start panicking about where I am.

Had a model lesson last night that I'd be prepping for during the latter half of last week. Fortunately all that hard work paid off; the lady was quite happy with the lesson on distinguishing between casual and formal Business English. She had spent a year in Oklahoma and has a slight accent from the area.

Picked up the novelization for "Star Trek" yesterday at Kinokuniya. Reads rather quickly. The boys (and girls) in the Star Trek community on Mixi are still raving about the movie.

Monday June 1, 6:14 p.m.

To continue on with the review of "Star Trek": yep, I enjoyed it thoroughly despite some of the cringeworthy writing. Abrams was more in his "Cloverfield" mode than his "M:I 3" one for this movie. The intro with the Kelvin, the fleeing shuttles and the transition into the title card along with the Michael Giacchino music must've gotten the Trekkies back home into full whoop-and-clap...I actually got goose pimples and a bit of a lump in the throat. One of the things I miss about the movie experience back in Canada is that the audience gets full caught up in the proceedings. I could see when the audience would've been laughing, clapping and cheering for Kirk and the gang: McCoy's entrance, Spock Prime's appearance, the Enterprise to the rescue in the last 10 minutes, and finally, Leonard Nimoy's second rendering of "Space, the final frontier..." at the end.

"Star Trek" will never be accused of being an Oscar-grabbing picture but it is a great summertime event.