Sunday Sept. 30, 3:07 p.m.

Well, for a month that roared in here like a bat out of Hell, September is leaving like a wet fish. It actually feels cold out there thanks to the rain...could only imagine how much more wintry it would feel if there were some wind. Not that I'm complaining too much, though...after being roasted alive this summer, I'll be more than happy to take some natural air conditioning.

The last time I made an entry here, I was going to head on off to Maruzen the bookstore in Otemachi after having The Chef's lesson at Speedy's. But then I decided to skip over to Nakano to the main arched mall over there. But before that, I had my second lunch at the next door restaurant called Chianti for that burger dish I'd had the first time. This time, the burger plate was at full price...1,200 yen. Now you might think that is a hefty price to pay for any burger, but you didn't see the plate. As was the case last time, the Chianti Burger is this humongous monster of a sandwich packed with lettuce, tomatoes, two soft slices of avocado, a strip of prosciutto ham, and two different gooey sauces. And, oh, there is a rather large beef patty anchoring things. It actually is a good deal...it is also a good deal messy. I wasn't sure whether to eat it with a knife and fork or to risk it all with hands. I went with the latter option and lost the bet. By the end of the meal, my hands were so coated with sauce that I probably would've left a wet & messy fetishist salivating.

Now, as for why I decided to hit the Sun Plaza in Nakano. Well, Shibuya may be the Teen Mecca of Japan and Harajuku the home for all the costumed folks and fans of eclectic fashion. But Sun Plaza is the home for Mandarake's flagship store. Mandarake is that chain specializing in all things manga and otaku. Hey, you say...what about Akihabara the electronics district? Well, since the area became "legit" in the eyes of the Japanese government, the otaku have been kinda dissing all those Starbucks and other clean places invading the formerly grotty area. So, you've got Anime Street in Ikebukuro just across from Sunshine 60, and there is Mandarake in Nakano Sun Plaza.
Since it was a Friday afternoon, the 2nd-4th floors which Mandarake has taken as its HQ weren't too busy so I could take a good look at the various stores which had all sorts of CDs, DVDs, figures and other old collectibles. In fact, if anyone outside of the country with the tags of collector and anime ever came over, I would recommend them to run, not walk, to this place. I'm not an otaku....at least, not anymore...and haven't been for some years now. Still, I liked walking through the place since it brought me back to a nice, nostalgic place. It may be the faded beauty of Sun Plaza which has some resemblance to the really old-time charm of Nakamise Dori in Asakusa and the fact that I'd also dropped into that old secondhand CD shop with the 80s CDs just before Mandarake. Also, a lot of the stuff selling on the three floors of Mandarake are from several years to a few decades back which can give that feeling of nostalgia...plus, interspersed with the otaku shops are really old-style cafes and restaurants with dingy brown walls from years of cigarette smoke exposure and creaky outdated furniture. I could imagine if I were still an otaku, I could spend hours just browsing and eating through.

Yesterday was the odd day of nothing and noone to teach so I just ended up cleaning the place and hooking up the computer that had once belonged to Mrs. Travel. It wasn't too difficult at all (in fact, I got a wake-up call from her yesterday morning to thank me for the package of chocolate wafers). And then I bought the fixins for dinner...I decided to make my own go at Chicken Kiev after The Wild Thing's education last Sunday. There was still some frozen herb butter in the freezer. I was half-successful...I was able to get one of the parcels of chicken to cook right through, but the other came out a little raw necessitating some extra fry time. Still, it came out well.
Nothing says the changing of the seasons than the arrival of another 2 weeks of TV specials between serial dramas. Last night, the King of all Specials, the TBS All-Star Festival came on once more with tons of tarento answering quiz questions and running around TBS Studios. On Fuji-TV, there was the special with Cyril, the young magician wowing the tarento there. And on satellite TV, there was the Japan premiere of "Heroes" with my clone, Hiro Nakamura. Unfortunately, I had forgotten about it so I just came across the last few minutes of Episode 1. No matter...if I really want to see it, I'll just have to buy the DVD set.

This morning, it was just The Younger for her 1-hour lesson. She had to run off to a volleyball game immediately afterwards. Her mother was lamenting about how full her daughter's schedule is: my English lessons along with frequent volleyball practices and games, her piano lessons on Thursdays, her own juku session and even her time as lead vocal for her band (?!). Apparently, this shy little girl whom I've been teaching for the past 3 years is now fronting an Aiko tribute group. I remarked that life has been training her for the often clogged life of the average Japanese adult. The mother could understand that and even said that The Younger actually enjoyed her hectic lifestyle. Well, as long as she enjoys it, that's all that matters...still haven't seen any gray hair or wrinkles yet on her.

However, I'm sure the President of beleaguered NOVA, Nozomu Sahashi, must have sprouted quite a few of both over the past several months. I can just see the headlines now: "NOVA Implodes!" or "NOVA Goes Supernova!" A Sword of Damocles has apparently appeared over the largest English-teaching chain in Japan. On Friday's "Japan Times" alone, there were no less than 3 articles devoted to my old employer, two of which were journalistically playing the musical version of the Death March. And yes, things look pretty bleak. Teachers were wondering if they would be getting their pay this month...not a good sign..or maybe it is a sign...to bail out. Still, perhaps ejecting those smaller schools may bring in some much-needed cash but whether or not it'll be a tonic or just a used bandage remains to be seen. I'm not quite ready to plunge my sword into NOVA just yet but I remember with some wistfullness at that NOVA higher-up all those years ago at my orientation session in NOVA HQ in Harajuku saying "NOVA is too big to die."

Those guys in Tokyo could be forgiven for believing that Mondays are now considered part of the weekend. I found out from the Younger that tomorrow is a holiday for Tokyoites since it is Tomin-no-hi...basically the Tokyo equivalent of Simcoe Day in Toronto...a civic holiday. With the last two Mondays off for national holidays and then yet another one of those on October 8th, these guys will have gone through a month without working Mondays. Still, I'm back on my regular shift with The Class Act, SIL and The Full-Timer. Not sure what Speedy has for me tomorrow night since Mr. TOEIC has yet to call in for his next lesson.

Friday Sept. 28, 11:23 a.m.

I should stop speaking so soon when it comes to the weather. As soon as I say the temps are finally coming on down, the next day has summer heat and humidity once more....like today.

Had a rather teeth-pulling lesson with The Nurse. One thing you don't ask her about is movies. Apparently, she doesn't see much of them. I may decide to rein things in a bit when it comes to her lessons for the next few weeks, at least. Unfortunately, it'll be another early one for her next Wednesday after another late Tuesday at the juku. Mind you, one good thing that came out of yesterday's arduousness was her advice to check out a chocolatier called Pierre Marcolini in Ginza. I checked out their website in Japan...aye, carumba...about as far from the Glico brand in terms of price as one can get.

Went down to the Ginza/Yurakucho area to find a box of candy for Mrs. Travel. However, I first wanted some place to grab a bite to eat, so I first checked out the INZ plaza near the station. There was a Chinese buffet restaurant on the 2nd floor (Chinese, buffet...two words that go splendidly together like peanut butter and chocolate); I was mightily tempted but decided ultimately that I shouldn't go too crazy with the funds and the calories. So I ended up having a Wendy's. I also searched for Ume no Hana, that tofu place where The Madame and I will be going to next week. I couldn't find it during my recce but discovered it a few minutes ago on the website. It just happens to be right behind Wendy's.

I found a literally twisted building in the bowels of the area that The Satyr, an architect by education, might find interesting. Then I went to the HMV near Mullion where I relented and picked up a Total Film issue for keeping-myself-from-going-stir-crazy-on-the-subway purposes. I saw that the lead singer from jazz/rockabilly unit Ego-Wrappin' has released a solo album...a kinda of a rather soft ballad type of deal. Listening to it on speakers, I was reminded of the solo album by Maki Watase, the lead singer from 80s/90s J-pop band Lindberg. Same sort of thing...a departure into AOR territory.

Finally got to the basement of Mitsukoshi at Ginza-4-chome. As expected, the various arteries on the food floor were clogged with onlookers and prospective purchasers of confectionaries of all tastes and sizes. I did a recon for a few minutes before descending upon the area covered by Yoku Moku, a confectionary specializing in cigar-shaped cookies. However, I bought a box of After Eight-like wafers instead. Pretty easy...I just had the girl there fill out the courier form to have the box sent directly to Mrs. Travel's house. I'm sure I'll hear something from her today or tomorrow. It didn't kill my wallet too badly...just 1,575 for the 1,200 yen box plus shipping.

After taking another brief dip into Yamano Music, I just went up to the roof garden on top of Mitsukoshi and just cooled my heels there for an hour. The construction boys were building some sort of twisted building nearby. I guess there must be a new trend for building structures that intentionally look like they're on the verge of tremor-influenced collapse.

When I got to Ichigaya, I contacted The Wild Thing. Looks like he and The Engima have settled in a weekly mansion just across from SDF HQ....right in Ichigaya. I wouldn't be surprised if he struck up a debate with some soldiers jogging in the area. An hour later, I had my lessons with The Carolinan and BC. The Carolinan told me that she and The New Yorker would be interested in Skippy's favourite curry place, Mo-Yan up in Shinjuku. I also told BC about it and so it looks like this new dinner club will be having its second meeting on the 21st after I get back from HK. As for BC, I made some copies from "Gateway to Canada" for her to nosh on. We didn't actually go through the pages themselves but they served as a touchstone for a lot of banter on Canadian authors such as W.O. Mitchell and Margaret Atwood...hey, as long as she was talking away, I was happy. I was surprised that in spite of her Canuck-o-philiac nature, she hadn't heard of the one and only Pierre Elliot Trudeau. I told her to run, not walk, and find a biography of him. He makes Junichiro Koizumi, the most flamboyant Japanese PM since Yasuhiro Nakasone, look like a shrinking violet. I remember that the Japanese decades ago were very interested in Trudeau's flower-child wife, Margaret...so much so that there was a bar named for her in Tokyo. I was also quite surprised to find out that she had never heard of Anne Murray, so I told her to search for "Snowbird".

I contacted Skippy on a number of fronts...since she's about the closest to me in terms of culinary deals, I asked her about Pierre Marcolini; she's heard of it but hasn't ever been to the shop in Ginza. I also invited her to the latest Mo-Yan outing on the 21st. And there is also what to do for food for that koto outing by the juku boss' troupe; still not sure if she's gonna come with me for that one.

The big news today is about a Japanese journalist who was one of 9 people shot and killed during the Myanmar government's crackdown on the thousands of protestors. The wide shows even showed the man getting shot by the soldier at point blank range in the right chest and leaving him there to die. The media here certainly doesn't flinch from showing some graphic images either on TV or in the tabloids.

I've got The Chef in about an hour so I'm good to go for her. And then, it'll be several hours before The Ace. May just head on down to Otemachi before spending some time in the Urayasu Starbucks before I finally hit the juku.

Thursday Sept. 27, 9:25 a.m.

Another early start to the day, another McBreakfast, another 10 o'clock with The Nurse. However, I'm glad to say that I was finally able to sleep in my own bed once more after 8 nights on the sofa. Mind you, it was only less than 6 hours of sleep since I got home past midnight and woke up at 6 a.m. The Wild Thing had cleared out and left the spare key as expected. He also left his wife's umbrella behind the used computer that Mrs. Travel had brought me. I've informed the man but I'm sure that he and his wife had somewhat "busier" concerns after being separated for more than a week.

Today is feeling rather cool and dry out there....downright Arrid, you might say. I can only hope for the umpteenth time that Autumn is here to stay. After The Nurse, I have some more prep work to do and then it's off to the grand department stores in Ginza to get a box of sweets for Mrs. Travel in compensation for the computer. Y'know how it is over here...get something, give something back in return. I was able to get the home address from her old classmate, Mrs. Alp. Then, it'll be The Carolinan and BC tandem. I hope the latter is more on the ball tonight.

I got in contact with The Cap, a friend of both The Wild Thing and me from university days. He's in Hong Kong and told them I could meet with him soon. When I told him that I would be staying at the legendary Mandarin Oriental, he asked if I knew that famous Chinese actor Tony Leung had committed suicide there several years back. In fact, I did know and rather off-coloredly remarked that if and when we do meet, he could show me where Mr. Leung made his final impact. I hope his sense of humour hasn't shriveled too much over the years.

And yet another scandal has given a body blow to the world of sumo. After seeing disgraced yokozuna Asashoryu slink off to his native Mongolia after pulling his most public display of hooky in front of the Japanese population, including his minders at The Japan Sumo Federation, a young rikishi-in-training has ended up bringing the JSF into some more mud. Like Asashoryu, Tokitaizan will not show up in front of any microphones to explain himself. However, unlike Asashoryu, he was born as native Japanese Takashi Saito...and it isn't because of shame that he won't be in front of the media...he's dead.
Apparently, the 17-year-old Saito succumbed to the trauma of being virtually lynched by his fellow sumo stablemates and his own stablemaster, Tokitsukaze, for having tried to escape from the stable. He was punched and kicked, and Tokitsukaze even smashed a beer bottle on his head. Am I sorry to hear of this? Of course. Am I surprised? Not at all.
Japanese society has kept its martial leanings in just about everything it does...from the corporate open-plan offices to the sumo stables to the baseball fields and to the schoolyards. Everything is about military-level training on a daily basis. And sports is especially close to the Sparta-style lifestyle. I've always heard about coaches and even senior players berating or beating supposedly wayward members for various malfeasances from students and other sources over the years in what is supposed to be known as disciplined instruction. In Japanese, it's called ai no muchi...the whip of love. Of course, back home it may be akin to tough love.
Well, it looks like Tokitsukaze went a little too far with his whip. He has a dead teenager now. And while the media will probably dogpile all over this one for a while, this sort of tough love will continue to be practiced in the other sumo stables and sports arenas for the foreseeable future.

Wednesday Sept. 26, 8:41 p.m.

Got through the lesson with 001. She was pretty stumbly with the language today for some reason; I don't think she hit a bar or a vending machine with a One Cup Ozeki in it. However, I finally fulfilled my promise and showed her a bottle of Max Coffee. That's the brand of coffee milk that for some mysterious reason only gets sold east of Tokyo in Chiba, Ibaraki and Tochigi. Since 001 hails from the other end of town in Kanagawa Prefecture, she has never seen it.
Well, her reaction was more positive than I'd expected. Since she has more of a taste for alcohol than for sweets, I thought she would've scrunched up her face in disgust but she actually enjoyed it though she did acknowledge the heady sweetness. She did read the ingredient list and found out that condensed milk was the key thing. That would put a lot of barflies in diabetic shock.
With all that talk on Max Coffee, the two of us have forgotten that the lass has reached a milestone tonight. She finished her 100th lesson with me. Anyone who's manage to last through me for over 2 years deserves all the Max Coffee she can get for life.

There is a window of 90 minutes between 001 and The Judge so I've used some of the time to create some curricula for people like BC and The Cook whom I've got in the next couple of days. Both have been somewhat tough to plan for. However, I was lucky to find a very glossy book here at Speedy's called "Gateway to Canada" that has some good stuff on Canadiana for BC to munch on tomorrow. And I've managed to scrounge up enough stuff for The Chef for her class on TOEFL and Travel English.

Wednesday Sept. 26, 4:31 p.m.

Well, after a week, The Wild Thing has left the building...my apartment building. As expected, he was manic, passionate/sanctimonious, giggly, bombastic...all the traits that have marked him for the 20 years I've known him. But I did learn about one new trait...his lovey-dovey side. Yup, he's very much in love with his new wife, The Enigma...kept pitching his voice way on high while he made kissy noises on his cellphone. Tried to keep my gorge in place. It's gonna feel a little quiet now with him gone. However, there is still a chance that he could be putting up stakes here in The Big Sushi.
But this morning, the two of us watched the Yankees and Tampa Bay go at it live on NHK. Yup, our nighters are in the mornings. Just couldn't believe that Matsui and the rest of the Bronx Bombers allowed TB to come back from a grand-slam-assisted 5-0 hole to win the game 7-6...especially when the Yanks could've clinched their berth for the playoffs right then and there.
Speaking of Godzilla, apparently, my old student...The Soldier...managed to get a picture of her and Hideki Matsui in Toronto recently when she spotted him eating at a Japanese restaurant, Ematei. Nice to see her rubbing shoulders with the big leaguers.

It was another regular night at the juku last night. The kids, Chip n' Dale, arrived for their 30, followed by The Milds some 90 minutes later. And then luckily, Jolly came in to replace The Siberian who cancelled again. The boss told me about her troupe's koto concert on Sports Day on October 8th. I said I would go...I asked The Madame and Skippy. The Madame declined but Skippy may be biting.

It's yet another new Prime Minister and Cabinet in Japan. Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda made his customary trip to the Imperial Palace to be officially given the powers of state by Emperor Akihito yesterday. Not surprisingly, his cabinet isn't much different from his predecessor's cabinet. It's way early to tell but I think Fukuda doesn't need a mop or bucket to identify himself as a caretaker. However, I'll give him about a month...if he doesn't do anything to improve matters, I can just imagine that his Opposition number, Ichiro Ozawa of The Democratic Party of Japan, will be chomping at the bit to demand snap elections.

It'll be nice to come back to an empty home again but unfortunately it'll only be for less than 6 hours since I gotta be back here in the morning for another early session with The Nurse.

Tuesday Sept. 25, 1:27 p.m.

The second of three long weekends in a month ended in a culinary frenzy. The Wild Thing, the man who has an opinion for just about anything and anyone, is also a bit of a gourmet. I like to cook but I'm more of the Rachael Ray type. However, my old friend is more on the lines of a Cordon Bleu graduate. He shows the same sort of intensity that he brings to just about anything else he does. On Sunday night, he went about whipping up some Chicken Kiev. He created the herb butter from scratch as well as butterfly the chicken breasts. Unfortunately, the breast rolls were a bit too thick so when we sliced into his concoctions, they were still quite raw inside. He verbally cursed himself mightily...well, I gather that a guy who can be harsh on himself can merit the right to be hard on others. Still, his Kiev still passed muster.
Last night, it was ratatouille. Yep, just like the movie with Remi. That took quite a bit of time...and gas...since he wanted to fry each vegetable separately. However, the results were very delicious although the presentation was a bit rougher than Remi's version in front of Anton Ego.

Today, it's back to work. The Beehive is off this week but Mrs. Travel and her hubby managed to fight traffic and the circuitous nature of getting to my home (that GPS system in their car must be paying dividends) to give me their old SONY computer. The couple did meet The Wild Thing briefly before we brought up the stuff back home. So now, I have two dormant computer setups in my tiny apartment. But no problems...The Wild Thing, being the seeming polymath, also knows his way around computers as well.

The two of us met up with The Chipmunk a few hours ago for lunch. The Wild Thing and The Chipmunk have been buddies since their Toronto days. We four (The Chipmunk brought her 6-month-old munchkin) ended up at my neighbourhood tonkatsu restaurant before we dropped by the nearest Mister Donuts for coffee. I think that's where they still are right now.

Since The Beehive is off today, my first class will be with 002 and then it'll be the guys at the juku. It'll also be another late start tomorrow with 001 starting things off before The Judge.

Sunday Sept. 23, 2:08 p.m.

Well, the weather gods are teasing us here again. Once again, I woke up to a decent breeze flowing through the apartment. And the temps feel sub-30. I can only hope that this is truly the end to what has been a torrid summer.

After having my classes yesterday, I made it down to Roppongi Hills to meet MB for "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer". We got our tickets and headed over to Tokyo Midtown, some 15 minutes' walk away for dinner. On the way, we saw some rather buxom young ladies dressed in nothing but lingerie (even Madonna would've blushed) handing out handbills to what was probably their place of employment nearby. It didn't help that yesterday was hot and steamy already.
We got to Baker Bounce in plenty of time. There was no lineup for the place and we got served our burgers in pretty quick order...a pleasant surprise for a restaurant in downtown Tokyo on a Saturday. We also shared a plate of chicken fingers...one of the culinary highlights from our last visit there. The talk was not surprisingly on movies and also on the delights (his, not mine) of Playstation Portable and other such devices. Unfortunately, I'm far less up on this latter topic. Speaking of which, there is some sort of games show happening in Makuhari Messe this week. I bet guys like The Anime King are biting their lips in frustation at not being able to come over.

The latest "Fantastic Four" movie was more fun than fantastic, but it was a lot better than "The Transformers". A lot of people have written it off as light fluff when compared to its heavier cousins like "Spiderman" and "X-Men", but "Fantastic Four" comics have never aspired to being more than just a fun diversion. And I must admit that after all the sturm und drang of those two other Marvel franchises, it was nice to see a group of superheroes actually enjoy being celebs. I can probably see another movie around the corner...probably with the birth of Franklin Richards being the core plot.
Afterwards, MB and I went downstairs and had a coffee at the local Starbucks. MB mentioned about The Satyr's b-day next month and that he and The Sylph were planning to hold a party. He was also getting concerned that with the growing numbers of people being invited, the plans were also gonna get comparatively twisted. Welcome to the club, MB. Having planned my share of events myself, I'm fully aware of the equation that there is a direct relationship between the size of the party and the size of the headaches involved.

I just had The Younger for the first time in almost two months. I think she's sprouted another inch...and it looks like she's discovering makeup. However, I'm happy to say that she's still hasn't evolved that sullenness The Elder has been afflicted with. I checked up with The Wild Thing whom I left still sleeping when I left for work this morning. Looks like his Chicken Kiev project is on for tonight. I'm supposed to be meeting him in about an hour in front of the local supermarket to get the ingredients.

I actually did take a very quick look at The Admin's husband's exhibition in Shinjuku. Basically the pics on display were the same ones I was looking at a few months ago when I was doing some proofreading for him.

Well, I'm off for the next couple of days until Tuesday. Not quite sure what The Wild Thing will be doing but I'll have to be picking up a little present for Mrs. Travel in thanks for the gift of her old computer.

Saturday Sept. 22, 2:16 p.m.

Supposedly we're into Autumn now...unfortunately, someone forgot to tell the powers-that-be. It's another steaming day out there. Not quite sure when or if the Fall will ever reach these shores.

It's been a few days since The Wild Thing made his appearance in my humble abode. And as expected, it's been him running off at the mouth at everything from Alberto Fujimori to the overpowered Canadian dollar. I've had to play some tricky channel surfing since depending on what he sees on the tube, he could go completely bonkers on some tirade. Still, he's one of my oldest and most loyal friends.
We've gone through some of those "Star Trek: New Voyages" discs. I did go on a bit of a nasty critique on the pilot, "Come What May". However, having seen the next couple of episodes, "In Harm's Way" and "To Serve All My Days", I have to admit that the stories have been pretty interesting, if not completely original. And despite the summer stock acting, there is quite a bit of heart that's been going into these fan-based and produced eps. Plus, the addition of some pretty heavy duty guest star turns such as William (Matt Decker) Windom and Walter (Chekov) Koenig has given these "fourth-season" eps a good amount of cachet.
One of the other discs also contained the first four episodes of "UFO", that weird Gerry & Sylvia Andersen show which came between "Thunderbirds" and "Space: 1999". In a way, "UFO" was an ideal transitional show. It had the model vehicle animation and stilted acting from the former show, and the rather heavy-for-children gravitas of the latter. I vaguely remember it for the white-haired, tow headed commander Ed Straker and the cool scenes of the pilots sliding down those tubes. And I realize that perhaps the goofy penchant of the Japanese to pronounce "unidentified flying object" as "U-foe" may have started from these guys.

I actually did have classes during The Wild Thing's stay. On Thursday, I met up with The Madame for the first time in several weeks. She was moaning on about the fact that she still has no boyfriend; well if she wouldn't moan so much and actually did something about her situation, perhaps she may end up married someday. Then, it was B2 for her monthly.
Yesterday was unusually busy. Not only did I have The New Yorker and then The Nurse at Speedy's, but I ended up having three classes at the juku. The Siberian, Jolly and The Ace showed up there which necessitated me having to race across town during rush hour. Only The Siberian got the brunt of my coming in 20 minutes late, but he was pretty laid back about it.

I had Tully & The Coffeemaker for their biweekly this morning. And I'll be having The Dentist in about 35 minutes. Then, it's off to Roppongi Hills to meet up with MB to catch the latest "Fantastic Four" flick. Not sure what to make of this one. I only hope that it is just a fun popcorn movie....especially after the disappointment of "Transformers". If we're lucky, we may be able to get a dinner at Baker Bounce in Midtown.

Ahhh...what 13 years will bring. All the way back in my days as a NOVA teacher, even before I set foot in one of those tiny cubicles to teach a maximum of 3 students, I had attended that large orientation meeting in NOVA's Kanto HQ in Harajuku. One fellow asked about the stability of NOVA as a business, considering the fly-by-night nature of some of these English-language schools. The trainer straightforwardly answered that the company was just too big to fall. Well, cue ahead nearly a decade and a half...the headlines on yesterday's "Japan Times" read that NOVA will probably be closing 200 out of 900 schools by the end of next week because of that stupid scandal earlier this year. Talk about being hoist on one's petard. There may be a lot of students who'll need English teachers. I would be happy to help...



It's another long weekend...this time, the special Monday is shuubun no hi or The Fall Solstice. Sure doesn't feel like it...pass the deodorant.

Wednesday Sept. 19, 3:36 p.m.

Well, The Wild Thing has landed. He arrived at my place in the early afternoon with The Enigma, his wife. Apparently, both folks like my neighbourhood. Even the weather was cooperating yesterday. It was very cool in the Kanto. I'd set my air conditioner on timer setting but it wasn't necessary at all. The Wild Thing had to turn it off a half hour after getting to my apartment since he was starting to freeze.

Meanwhile, my day yesterday was typical for a Tuesday...I had the Beehive, or what's left of it, in the morning. We had lunch at a locally renowned yakiniku restaurant just by JR Makuhari Hongo Station. For just under 1,000 yen, we had veggies, soup, salad, a plate of sliced marinated rosu beef and then a choice of dessert or iced coffee. And the best part was that the ladies had pretty small stomachs so of course, they called on me to finish off the rest of their meat.
Then, it was another pleasant house call at 002 before taking care of the juku classes. The kids were fine since the lesson was chock full of games, then it was The Milds. I received another omiyage from them in the form of nure sembe (dampened rice crackers) from Choshi, a fishing port in Chiba Prefecture. The translation shouldn't turn you off...the crackers were soaked in soy sauce so they go well with a mug of beer. Jolly cancelled again but The Siberian did show up for his 60. We spoke on the latest one-hit wonders to hit the TV screen such as the naked & prancing Yoshio Kojima, S&M Queen Sumiko Nishioka and the food fighter with the elastic stomach, Gyaru Sone. We agreed that two of the three will be on the garbage heap of "Whatever happened to...?" this time next year....along with other folks such as Razor Ramon HG and the Guitar Samurai.

I got home, slightly dampened by a frizzy rain, to see The Wild Thing making himself comfortable on the sofa. We opened on a couple of brewskis and as usual, The Wild Thing just kept on talking about all sorts of things while I just silently nodded my head and drank myself into a blessed stupor. Of course, Wild Thing slept in the guest room while I crashed on the sofa. I made sure it was the sofa by the balcony windows since the other sofa has a metal bolt which has dug into my spine before. We were both very grateful that the weather cooled down considerably.
The next day, I woke up and we took a look at some of Wild Thing's presents to me in the form of burned DVDs. Apparently, his friend burned some discs of "Star Trek: The New Voyages", that fan-produced and fan-acted homage to Classic Trek that has been running on the Internet since 2004. Well, from the pilot episode, it was obvious that this was a labour of love for James Cawley and the bunch. For me, though, watching the performances was just plain hard labour. I know they're not professional actors but still, it was truly wincing at times to see these guys play dress-up for their favourite show. Still, I was surprised that old hands like John Winston and the guy who played Lt. Leslie volunteered their talents. I'll see how much more I can endure from the other eps.

Well, The Wild Thing and I ended up having lunch at the neighbourhood Yume-an, the Japanese family restaurant. One of the things that I really don't enjoy about my old friend's company is his insistence on belching on full volume. I did tell him once before about that...obviously he hasn't learned. He did it in the parking lot which got an interesting remark from an oldtimer who had been in earshot (mind you, I think the entire apartment complex behind the restaurant was probably in earshot). He told my friend that he probably ate too much to which Wild Thing cheerfully agreed. However, I'm not sure if the old guy was being purely observational or criticizing him. Still, I'll talk to Wild Thing again; he'll probably say that his personality can't help it. I'll then just take it and then quietly resolve to limit my meals with him outside to as minimal a number as possible. Mind you, it'll be rather difficult to link up since I'll be out all day for perhaps the next few days.

For the first time in a week, I'm back at Speedy's. Because of the lack of classes on the weekend and the holiday Monday, I haven't had to head over here. The bossman is exhausted as usual and he's currently sacking out in one of the rooms. I've got the usual suspects...001 will be here in a couple of hours and The Judge will end things off. Mr. TOEIC was supposed to be in the middle but he canned again, so I'll be teaching The Manhattanite instead.

Well, I'll be making a lunch run soon to The Golden Arches in half an hour for myself and the ailing Speedy.

Monday Sept. 17, 2:21 p.m.

Another hot and sticky one today. Almost went mad this morning cleaning up the place for The Wild Thing's arrival tomorrow night since I didn't have the AC on; after looking at the TEPCO bill for the past month, you wouldn't turn on the AC either. I guess this summer is gonna be dragged out kicking and screaming.

Speaking of my old friend, I met him on Saturday at Shinjuku Station. We went off to Foo Foo, my favourite ramen restaurant in the Odakyu Mall. Apparently, there has been a change in management. For one thing, the waitress automatically, and accurately, pegged The Wild Thing for a Chinese speaker and spoke to him in Cantonese. We had our usual orders of pai ko tan tan men...the famed ramen in a spicy but creamy broth with a hunk of sliced tonkatsu thrown in. The ramen also came out slightly different...instead of the usual slices of Japanese-style deep-fried pork cutlet, it was a more Chinese cha shiu style of pork. It was still good to us....especially with that mug of beer.

We ended up walking through the hotel-filled West Shinjuku for a little while. We noticed that the powers-that-be have been building a glass tower, similar to that London gherkin building. Also, for some reason, that branch of Hansen's...the hot dog place from New York...that I'd thought had closed down some months ago was still there. In fact, there was a window there for takeout.
We finally settled for dessert in a restaurant in The Century Hyatt, just across from Shinjuku Central Park. The Wild Thing marveled at the chocolate fountain. For those who may not know, the chocolate fountain is a fondue-type thing which has been thrilling women for months now. It basically operates on the same principles of a fountain, except that instead of clear water, the thing spews out liquid chocolate. Customers can just pick up a skewer of fruit and then run it through the fountain. Neither of us went for anything that decadent but I'll keep it for future reference. Not surprisingly, during our time there, The Wild Thing and I ended up gabbing on all things political and economic...with him doing most of the talking, of course. However, he has mellowed out...he didn't raise his voice even once. That's quite a far cry from a decade ago when he managed to get a bunch of us kicked out of a Shinagawa izakaya.

Yesterday was just pure relaxation at home. Didn't think of anything remotely connected to English teaching. I just watched I-Go Day In Japan on NHK-3...man, those two guys were just sucking air and grumbling like old guys who didn't get their Jell-O. Then, I watched my copy of "From Russia With Love"...the 2nd Bond (with the uber-Bond, Sean Connery) movie on DVD. Actually, "Die Another Day", Pierce Brosnan's last outing as 007, was on NTV on Friday night. You couldn't have a bigger contrast between those two entries in the series....the former was a bit of a departure from the usual Bond format in that it came out as a relatively quiet Cold War spy thriller while the latter was pretty much an FX-laden blockbuster. And I think Daniella Bianchi is the prettiest Bond girl to ever grace the screen. And yes, I am including the two Japanese Bond girls from "You Only Live Twice".

Speaking of Bond, Japan's biggest ex-pat 007 fan, Movie Buddy, contacted me about catching the latest Fantastic Four flick this Saturday...along with the usual DVD night. I had to turn him down on the DVD night since I've got The Wild Thing as the house guest until next Wednesday, at least. Also, he's planning something for the 20th for The Satyr's B-day. Just informed Skippy about it.

Today is Respect-for-the-Aged Day, so I'm sure a lot of the programming today has been geared for and about the geriatric set. I did find out some rather mind-blowing data. Everyone has known that Japan has the most rapidly aging society on the planet...although with all of the youth-induced media, observers can be forgiven for thinking the opposite. I was still surprised at how many old folks we've got though. Apparently, we've got tens of millions of folks over the age of 65, and in fact, this nation has over 30,000 people aged 100 and up. That is one huge retirement community. All those budding entrepreneurs should be thinking up of stuff for the old folks if they want to know where the money could be flowing in from over the next few decades. Mind you, with that embarrassing pension scandal (half of the population's...50 million...pension records have disappeared), Japan may also end up having the world's largest group of penniless old people.

On the other end of the age spectrum, today's guest on Tamori's "Waratte Ii Tomo" was Gyaru Sone...that Shibuya gal who could eat Henry VIII's amount of breakfast, lunch and dinner without breaking a sweat...or a wind. She could have the recently-dethroned hot dog-ingesting king, Takeru Kobayashi doing some additional heaving with the stuff that she could put into her tiny mouth...and black hole of a stomach. Apparently, her real name is Natsuko Sone and her career in that subgenre of tarento known as food fighter all started when she was "forced" to eat tons of food at some party. I saw her for the first time late last year on one of the late-night variety shows when she silently showed her skill. Since then, she has broken out as one of the go-to gals whenever a food contest erupts somewhere on TV. So far, she's the only tarento I've seen who's become famous solely for her ingesting ability, but I'm sure the agents are looking for other TV-friendly food fighters.

Friday Sept. 14, 4:06 p.m.

Met up with Galahad yesterday in Suitengumae, an area most notable for being right where TCAT (Tokyo City Air Terminal) is. He and his wife are staying at the Royal Park Hotel. Apparently, it's quite popular with the foreign guests due to its proximity to the terminal. While Guinivere was off to meet her new minders, Galahad and I walked up the main road and very promptly entered Ningyocho, the somewhat inner-city neighbourhood where Brozer's, that hamburger eatery I'd been to...thanks to Skippy...is located. As usual, we caught up on old times and friends. We first had some coffee on his dime at the local Excelsiors coffee shop; Galahad remarked how the Japanese chain is kinda ripping off Starbucks with its similar font and colour scheme. I gave him a laugh by telling him that Starbucks actually did threaten legal action several years ago when Excelsior's font was even closer in design to its Seattle rival.
Then, we spent several minutes looking for some place to eat lunch. Galahad mentioned that his aunt had informed him of some sort of oyakodon eatery in the neighbourhood which is supposed to popular with the lunch crowd. Sure enough, it wasn't even noon but there was a phenomenal Krispy-Kreme-in-Shinjuku level lineup snaking its way around the corner. It must've gotten some airplay on one of the myriad food variety shows on TV. Being well-disguised Canadians, we refused to line up just for food. Instead, we ended up having lunch at a ramen shop...it always seems that Galahad and I end up eating ramen whenever he and wife come into town. Lunch was on my dime this time. We also came across a taiyaki bakery which already had a sizable lineup even before the baker fired up his brazier. Taiyaki is a sweet delicacy made with mashed azuki beans stuffed into a fish-shaped cake.
We hopped on board the Hibiya Line and just went over to Ginza to stretch our legs a bit. We took a look at some camera lenses at the corner Nikon store. It was intriguing to see that even in this day and age of the digital camera that these huge lenses costing several months' rent were still in demand. Galahad also expressed some interest in some eye drop medicine and even some of those energy drinks which are pretty much part of the salaryman's regimen here, so we crossed the street over to the local branch of Matsumoto Kiyoshi, a major drug store chain. I showed him the drinks, including the special brand of Yunker which contains a ton of royal jelly and costs a stratospheric 3,000 yen. Also, those MatsuKiyo staffers should consider selling cars...they were doing some major pushing of somewhat more expensive fare on us; Galahad was a pretty kind tourist...he ended up buying a few boxes of that more expensive eye drop solution.
Another item on Galahad's to-do list was to find a sporting goods store along the lines of The Sports Authority back in The Great White North. I asked a cop at the corner koban at Ginza 4-chome. He said that there was no such animal but there was an Asics shoe store near Shimbashi. We took a look inside Ginza Matsuya, the department store which was probably the closest to being more middle-class than the regal Mitsukoshi or Matsuzakaya stores. Still, its sporting goods department should've been re-named as merely the golfing goods department. Galahad remarked that the other department stores also had the same deal. I think he would have more luck in finding the real thing in Kanda.
We walked down the street to Shimbashi and then stopped at Hakuhinkan, the Japanese equivalent of FAO Schwarz in Manhattan. There was just some really weird stuff being sold there. For instance, there were some rather sedate versions of that old trendy thing, tamagotchi or whatever it was called. There was also a tiny computerized block with a screen display in which it asks you 50 questions to decide your personality. Sumiko Nishioka, the S&M tarento, was hawking that one with her whip. And there was a plastic guitar neck with a sensor for all those air guitarists...for those with too much time on their string-calloused hands.
Coming back to Ginza 4, Galahad took some shots of the Hermes glass palace. I told him that all of the blocks were specially imported from Italy which got him to whip out the camera. Then we spent several minutes inside of the Sony Building looking at the newest little gadgets for Xmas. Walking through Yurakucho Station and then Tokyo International Forum, my feet were starting to balloon so it was lucky that we could hit the subway finally to head back to the hotel. Mind you, we got in at Otemachi Station at the wrong end so we had to walk half a kilometre before finally popping on the Hanzomon Line. Not surprisingly, I conked out in the lobby armchair with my copy of The Daily Yomiuri like some old geezer after dinner. I was awakened by Guinivere a half hour later. She'd just gotten a new lucrative position in which she would be coming over to Japan quarterly so I may be seeing her a bit more often than usual.

I was still feeling pretty tired when we finally parted company on the Hanzomon. But I had to teach The Carolinan and BC at the Tully's. The Carolinan was fine but BC still seemed to be lacking in energy. I kinda wonder if I'm gonna have to do the thinking for the both of us. Still, she was kind enough to refer a potential new student to me. It was about 10 when I finally hit home last night but I broke my cardinal rule of not snacking past 9 and hit the McDonalds. I figured that I've been a pretty good boy by not touching a Big Mac set for a couple of weeks.

Unlike the rest of this week, today has been mainly sunny and warm. Spent most of the day at home. The news was mostly on the Prime Ministerial Sweepstakes since Shinzo Abe decided to leave the farm on Monday. Apparently, Abe had to check himself into the nearest hospital for gastrointestinal distress, supposedly due to the stresses of his former job. The Wild Thing told me that Abe may actually not be suffering ulcers but just hiding out from the media, a conspiracy theory that may hold some water. But the Cigarstore Indian looked pretty haggard up to the time that he stepped down. In any case, now that Abe is persona non grata....the race for who'll become the President of the Liberal Democratic Party (and therefore the Prime Minister) started up in earnest yesterday. Hordes of media hovered around each possible candidate like flies around dung. Their persistence finally paid off this morning when former Chief Cabinet Secretary Fukuda threw his hat into the ring. Like Abe, Fukuda has some family connections; his own dad was a prime minister decades ago. Then, Taro Aso finally made his press conference confirming that he'll be going for the position as well. Since he's an avowed manga fan, he may be trying to get the geek vote in Akiba.

Before I came here to the I-cafe, I had lunch at Subways. I tried out one of the new sandwiches, a smoked salmon-and-taramosalata concoction. Not too bad but I still prefer plain ol' tuna. I've just got The Ace tonight. Tomorrow is the start of a long weekend, one of two consecutive weekends. I wouldn't mind that at all except that Mondays are usually one of my most money-earning days. Luckily, SIL and Mr. TOEIC have kindly shifted to Wednesdays.

I'll be meeting The Wild Thing tomorrow for dinner at Shinjuku. We may hit Foo Foo at the station for that spicy pai ko tan tan men. He said that he may bring his new wife...although I rather doubt The Enigma will come. I'll probably be looking forward to his analysis of the Abe situation.

Wednesday September 12, 9:45 p.m.

Well, another long Hump Day has come to a close, although somewhat sooner than usual. The Judge would be in this slot right now for my final class but he cancelled last night. So, the closer tonight was The Manhattanite. She's a pretty low student but has plenty of heart. 001 was even gabbier than usual so that we didn't even approach the next chapter in the text. She's only got a couple of more lessons on her current contract. There was talk between Speedy and me earlier today about her chances of re-signing (instead of resigning); 001 reassured the boss by saying that she'd like to hang on for at least another year.

The weather is no longer the downpours of this morning. It's been replaced by a rather pleasant coolness which should fit Autumn nicely. It's here a week early but after this blistering summer, who's really complaining?

I'll be outta here in the next ten minutes since most likely I'll be getting another call from The Wild Thing at around midnight. I got a heads-up from a mutual friend back in the ol' hometown stating that he may be thinking of asking me to be a witness for the official marriage ceremony between him and The Enigma. Well, he hasn't asked me yet and I think he would've done so last night, so unless I get ambushed tonight, I'll be meeting up with Galahad instead for lunch tomorrow before I meet up with The Carolinan and BC later. It'll be BC's first lesson with me since that little breakdown way back in July. I hope she's up to it now.

Wednesday Sept. 12, 2:42 p.m.

Well, that's quite a political broadside. I knew his days were numbered but I didn't know that Shinzo Abe would pull the trigger on his head that quickly. I just found out over the Net that the Prime Minister has thrown in the towel and will resign...just a week or so after forming his 2nd Cabinet. Apparently, according to a Fuji-TV poll, a majority of the pollees said that he's resigning too early. I think he should've resigned as soon as he lost that Upper House election but now I'm wondering why he even bothered forming a new Cabinet when all he was gonna do was leave after a fortnight. Not quite sure who's gonna be the interim leader...Taro Aso? And are we gonna have snap Lower House elections?

In totally different news, I think I've found another new drink to compare with my much-beloved Calpis Water and Coca-Cola. It's called Max Coffee, and for some strange reason, it doesn't seem to be sold in Tokyo, only east of the metropolis in Chiba and maybe even Ibaraki Prefectures (The New Yorker who lives there knows about it, much to her chagrin). It basically tastes like liquid chocolate popsicles which probably explains The New Yorker's dislike of it (she's more of the serious alcohol lover) and my love for it (having a sweet tooth as large as a T-Rex's incisor). To be honest, drinking it too fast has resulted in my real teeth shriveling at the high sugar content...it's not something that doctors would recommended for diabetics. Not sure why it isn't sold in The Big Sushi, unless Governor Ishihara has rammed through a bill banning ingested WMDs. I told 001 about it last week and her face just puckered up...she's also more of an alky. Well, anyways, I just restrict myself to a weekly treatment.

Wednesday Sept. 12, 11:51 a.m.

Even though Typhoon Fitow has long gone, it still feels like its presence is very much with us. There has been some major rain just drenching the Kanto over the past several hours. I think this month will go down as one of the rainiest Septembers on record, if not the rainiest. I'm sure that the reservoirs are plenty full now. Just wonder what the rest of this Fall is gonna shape up as.

It's certainly been feeling rather nomadic with The Beehive. I only had the two former high school classmates, Mrs. Travel and Mrs. Alp at a new temporary venue, far from the station yesterday morning. I've yet to see Mrs Tee since summer hiatus came and went. As with last week, the Bees and I ended up having lunch together but this time, instead of the flash and style of a veggie buffet in Makuhari Messe, we had a simple pasta lunch at a chain called Tapas Tapas near Tsudanuma Station. One of the topics that came up was the revelation that all of Chiba would probably end up underwater if global warming went to the extremes. Considering the weather the past few days, that wasn't a particularly reassuring thought.

After the regular 002 home visit, I had my juku students once again. And once again, it was another dissipated showing. I only had the one kid, Chip, since his comrade, Dale, was under the weather. Then, Mrs. Mild showed up without her husband, followed by Jolly. All throughout, the lightning and thunder and rain dominated the atmosphere.

It's been another early morning for me since I had The Nurse for the first time in a couple of weeks. She and her hubby had done a few days of R&R up in Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture...not too far away from Tokyo. Nasu is kinda like a resort area with plenty of onsen and ryokan. They've also been to Hong Kong a couple of times so I plied her with questions near the end of our rollicking hour about the place. It looks like Victoria Peak is the must-see. She is definitely a fan of the place.

It'll be several hours before 001 comes in. And then it'll just be The Manhattanite...provided that she doesn't dotakyan. The Judge has unusually cancelled his lesson tonight, so I may head home a bit earlier than usual. Not a bad thing since I'm feeling fairly tired already. However, I'm probably gonna be contacted by The Wild Thing near midnight for some reason. He came in last night with his wife, The Enigma, and contacted me by phone. Apparently, his past communiques with me have been through Skype, that supposedly hip computer-assisted phone transmission technology. Well, I'm not too impressed with it. Skype is pretty unstable and his voice kept dropping out often enough to annoy me; in fact, the entire line cut off at one point. Skype?...I think it's more hype than hip.

I managed to contact my old university friend, Guinevere, after my lunch with what remains of The Beehive. She'll be too busy with her lawyerly activities to meet me during the day but I'll be meeting up with her husband, Galahad, at their hotel near Tokyo Station tomorrow morning. It may be a bit of a walk, but I might take him to Genkatsu, that tonkatsu restaurant in Ginza which specializes in that mille-feuille katsu.

I read the latest opinion piece in METROPOLIS last week in which the author talks about the extreme dumbing-down of Japanese popular culture. Well, he won't get much of an argument from me. Last Saturday, I saw one of the most obnoxious tarento anywhere, Lou Oshiba (whose sole claim to fame is that he high-falutingly peppers his native speech with English words), on a variety show that featured him searching for a McDonalds in Egypt. This morning, the big news on the entertainment beat was the oh-so-nailbiting saga of a potential divorce between a Mama Boy traditional entertainer and his much put-upon wife, a former tarento whose mother-in-law could be a Mommie Dearest. Believe me, I wouldn't mind it if this family just disappeared into the Black Hole of Calcutta. With stories like these, and the usual pin geinin infesting the airwaves, it's no wonder that Western celebrities look so bewildered whenever they show up on one of these programs. I distinctly remember many, many years ago when Puffy Amiyumi (during their heyday in Japan and before Puff Daddy made the girls stick on the "Amiyumi" under threat of legal action) interviewed Harrison Ford when he came to Japan to promote "Air Force One". His rather bemused "O......K..." look was priceless as he contended with these kimono-wearing trollops.
But allow me to posit a theory behind all of this determined mindlessness behind Japan's TV pop culture. Sometimes, a society that has all these pressures of modern life and industry may actually need to check their collective brains at the door and depressurize via scampering comedians in tight Speedos or wacked-out tarento overly praising the dishes of some obscure restaurant in The Big Sushi. What better way to completely forget the verbal thrashing from your boss than to watch Ken Shimura with his umpteenth plastic turd on his head? How more relaxing it is to recover from seeing those gas prices and yen rise by watching the remnants of Morning Musume in cat ears dragging along a doll and exploring the bygone alleys of inner city Tokyo (personally at that time, I'm watching I-go Day in Japan on NHK Educational)? Yup, it's all Duhsville on the level of Homer Simpson but perhaps there is an anthropological method to the madness. Frankly, there should be a new equation made for this field in which there is an inverse relationship between the intelligence quotient of a country's popular culture and the power of that nation's economy. It could certainly explain the United States' love affair with so-called "reality" TV...and the ability for dimbulbs/borderline psychos like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton to keep coming back like bad pennies.

Monday Sept. 10, 5:23 p.m.

It was a quiet weekend. I spent Saturday re-watching the DVD of "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow". It's an underrated flick although some of the writing and performances (I'm looking at you, Ms Paltrow) were even more hackneyed than the lines from the original 30s movies. Still, despite some of the summer stock vibe, it was definitely more satisfying than "Transformers"...yes, I am still harping on that one. Sunday was even more sedate. Since the mother of the Younger had cancelled her daughter's lesson, I was able to catch "I-go Day in Japan" for the 3rd week in a row; not exactly as fiery as "Hockey Night in Canada" but did have its gripping moments.

Did get some updates from a number of folks. It looks like The Wild Thing will be holding off on his reservation at my place by about a week. It seems as if his enigma of a wife managed to convince him to stay at a hotel. At least, I'll get a full weekend to prepare for his arrival. Also, I received a bit of a surprise from a friend of my brother's, Galahad. He and his wife (also a good friend from university days) are in town, so I may be able to catch them for lunch sometime this week.
It would seem that my Fall could be quite full. Aside from the folks above, I've got members of The Anime King's court coming in next month and then my own trip to Hong Kong.

It's another busy Monday. I had The Class Act today...more talk on that trip to Hong Kong. In fact, for the regular eats that accompany our lessons, we had some Thousand-Year-Old Eggs (pitan, as it's known here; pidan in Cantonese) as the snack du jour. The green jellied ovules are admittedly an acquired taste but the three of us like them. Usually when I've had other brands of the eggs, they were fairly hard like hard-boiled eggs but these ones which come from this supposedly acclaimed shop in HK Central which is only open for 2 hours everyday were as velvety as butter. The Lady swears by them. In any case, one of our targets there will be this shop and to see if we are lucky enough to grab a case of them.
My time with SIL was the usual rollicking time. I found out from her that she's never been to an Internet cafe or a karaoke box. The I-cafe was no real surprise but it was a revelation to hear that she'd never visited a SHIDAX or a Big Echo for karaoke. So, just like updating Rip Van Winkle, I gave her the lowdown on the 21st-century entertainment emporium: how we no longer need to write requests on a slip of paper and that we could use tricorder-like handhelds to order songs. She was sufficiently impressed that she may see if any of her friends may try a box out. I suggested the Big Echo in Yurakucho.

Well, I've got The Full-Timer in about 15, followed by Mr. TOEIC for his 60.

I did forget to mention that I did receive two surprise messages on Saturday from a couple of old faces: SR and The Beach Girl. Apparently, the two former classmates tried to contact me since the latter was back in town. They invited me to dinner but I couldn't understand anything Beach Girl was saying when I accessed the messages from a public phone (damn her Californian fluency), and I didn't hear SR's message until I got home. I gave them my apologies.

Well, the gauntlet has been thrown down. PM Abe has said that he would step down as leader if the bill for extending the SDF's time helping out the Allies in Iraq weren't passed. Not exactly a balls-to-the-wall risk since his party has a solid majority in the Lower House but I wouldn't quite say it was a no-brainer either. However, the Democratic Party of Japan is smelling blood in the water.

Saturday Sept. 8, 2:53 p.m.

I did forget...today's also the huge premiere of "HERO", the latest Takuya Kimura movie based on the hit TV drama series all the way back in 2001. Fuji-TV's been touting the movie for months now with all the force of its bombastic theme tune. In fact, on that Friday night music show, on Fuji-TV of course, "Bokura no Ongaku"(Our Music), the star himself chatted it up with his co-star, Takako Matsu, before a 52-piece orchestra played the theme...I think it's the first time in the show's 4-year run that the only piece of music played was a purely instrumental theme song. Certainly, the movie is top-heavy with all sorts of stars: the face of Japanese TV, Tamori; Takako Matsu's thespian father, Soichiro Matsumoto; and of course, tribute had to be made to the current hanryu boom by not only filming part of the movie in Korea but also having one of its big actors, Byeong Hong Li, have a cameo.
Am I gonna catch it? Not on your life...I think KimuTaku is only capable of two emotions as an actor: furious and surly. The movie will make oodles of yen, I'm sure, but for me it's just a very special version of a trendy drama....which means it isn't.

Saturday Sept. 8, 1:51 p.m.

Typhoon Fitow is now just a memory. Not only has it been downgraded to a tropical storm but Tokyo is back to steamy and sunny. I've got the AC on timer once again.

It was just The Ace last night at the juku. He's doing his usual tennis thing with his buddies today. Recently, I learned that he's also quite the coffee lover. I think I should've given him the Kona coffee beans instead of 002. In fact, he's even done one of those barista seminars at a local chain called SegaFredo. Well, at least I know what kinda souvenir I'll be getting him, although I don't know what kinda cachet a bag of coffee beans from Canada would merit.
The boss also told me that she'd contacted either Seven or her family about her big operation, the reason is that she's now inactive as a student. Apparently, she said that the nearby hospital could only guarantee a spot right on Halloween (never a great day to have an operation). Based on my years of experience, my eyes immediately narrowed and tongue went straight to cheek. The boss didn't pick up on that but I remedied that situation by throwing out the possibility that perhaps Seven may have decided to fly the coop permanently. To my mild surprise, she didn't react in horror but just looked thoughtful and said that she didn't believe that would be the case. And to be honest, using the line of a much-needed operation is a new one for me, and pretty heavy-handed as an excuse. So, we'll just see.....yup, I've become very jaded in my middle age.

Just had Tully & The Coffeemaker for their biweekly at Tully the shop. Man, for the last few times I've been there with those two and the Sisters of State, the flies have been swarming over us. That cafe desperately needs a number of Vapona strips hanging there. In about an hour, I'll have The Dentist and then I'll be off for home.

Friday September 7, 3:19 p.m.

Well, Typhoon No. 9, aka Fitow in Western nomenclature, pretty much took over all of Thursday in all things that matter. It started barreling in from yesterday morning, really shook us up by the evening and kept howling throughout the night before leaving a trail of floods and detritus...kinda like your typical Japanese salaryman on a bonenkai binge. All of the stations covered the massive storm like flypaper with the usual shots of the poor commuters who had to spend the night in the cold hallways of stations or wrestle with the elements outside.
I had the best of timing, though. I had the entire day off yesterday and most of today off as well. So I could see all the storm und drang from the comfort of my little decrepit apartment. I did go out to the neighbourhood conbini for a few minutes, though, to grab some supplies. It was pretty humid, though not as hot as it was in August. I also brought in the lighter of the two laundry poles and my broken screen door, just in case, the winds got a little too aggressive.
However, between Wednesday night and now, I now have a couple of packages sitting on my tatami room floor. Both are for The Anime King. One package is this behemoth containing three giant female figures from this game that he and his otaku cronies just love called "The Idomaker". When I saw these dolls in their packages, I just had to roll my eyes and remark rhetorically about when these guys were ever going to grow up. The Anime King did contact me and said that The Anime Chamberlain will be coming over to take care of the shipping of the huge package. I should hope so...but until then, I know have a huge cardboard box blocking my access to the bookshelf. I'm sure when The Wild Thing arrives next week, he'll probably have some strong opinions about the latest shipment...as he usually does.

Speaking of which, yep, The Wild Thing is definitely a-coming next week. And I'll have him at my little hotel for the next fortnight. He apparently spent most of the last couple of days convincing his enigma of a wife that he wouldn't be imposing on me too much. He also asked me for reassurance that he wouldn't be imposing on me....I lied and said that, no, he wouldn't. (I'm sorry but 11 days with a guy with such an excess of personality is simply not gonna be that easy to live with....20 years of friendship or not).

I've only got The Ace tonight followed by tomorrow's biweekly sessions with Tully & The Coffeemaker, and then The Dentist at Speedy's. The mother of the Younger sent me e-mail cancelling the upcoming lesson on Sunday since the Younger has one of those volleyball games. Well, 4,000 yen down the drain but at least I won't need to go anywhere on Sunday.

Since I was safely esconced in my apartment last night, I was able to watch some other stuff aside from all those typhoon reports. On "Utaban", that music show with Takaaki ("Major League 2") Ishibashi and Nakai-kun of SMAP, I got to see two famous but disparate elements of Japanese pop culture meet. A slightly heavier-looking Hikaru Utada, the former pop sensation of turn-of-the-century Japan, got to meet the current comedic flavour-of-the-year, the prancin'-and-dancin' Yoshio Kojima, the fruit loops comedian from Okinawa who's apparently occupying the 5th spot in the YouTube popularity rankings worldwide. I'm pretty sure he'll be showing up on Anderson Cooper sometime soon. Kojima may even replace Cooper's fave "Seamanship" video. As for the fateful meeting, Utada just dissoved into giggles before she had her arms broken by an overly aggressive palmistry expert...you can probably catch her on YouTube for that as well.

I've been catching the tributes to the recently departed Luciano Pavarotti on CNN. He may also have a special place in the hearts of Japanese since he sang that excerpt from "Turandot" at the 2006 Olympics last year....the same song that helped get Shizuka Arakawa, the Japanese figure skater, her country's lone and gold medal. Thanks to that performance, CDs of "Turandot" sold like hotcakes for the next few months. Ironically, it was that same song which finished off the visual tribute to him on Anderson Cooper today.

Wednesday Sept. 5, 4:37 p.m.

Typhoon 9 isn't supposed to be hitting us until early Friday morning, but we've already gotten a few smacks today. I was walking to the station today with my little umbrella over my head and my bag in one hand (kinda like Hayao Miyazaki's Totoro in one scene) when the skies suddenly opened up like rapids in the air and my entire left side got soaked. Unfortunately, a number of my texts also got their edges nice and wet. Ironically, as my half-drenched body tried to dry out in the local Subway, the rain just as promptly stopped, and to add insult to injury, the sun came on out.

Yesterday, I had my first session with The Beehive at our new home at a nearby community centre. Mrs. Travel also teaches Japanese to some of the foreigners there. Instead of our old dusty meeting room with the blackboard and long tables, we now inhabit a tatami room with low tables and seats. However, Year 9 is definitely looking to be a transition year. I just have Travel, Mrs. Jade, Mrs. Tee and Mrs Alp as regulars, and Travel told me that until some more ladies can be recruited into the hive, we'll only be able to meet 3 times a month. I'm not particularly dismayed by that turn of events since I've always been accustomed to the 3 on, 1 off system with them. Still, it does feel a bit emptier now since Potter, Tulip and, most recently, Perth have flown the coop.
After the first session, all of us hopped on a bus to Makuhari Messe for one of those occasional lunches I'm invited to. This time, we went to a place called Na no Ha, a restaurant which, according to Travel, specializes in a veggie buffet. She saw the slightly skeptical expression on my face since I'm still passionately an omnivore. However, she reassured me that I would be quite happy with the results. The bus ride only took 5 minutes and the restaurant itself was just across the street from Carrefour, that French supermarket.
We had to wait about 15 minutes since we came in right during the heart of the lunch rush but when we got settled in, I was indeed quite happy with the buffet. Unlike my initial impression of tables just topped with baskets of raw rabbit food, there were some nice examples of wabi-sabi dishes such as chawanmushi (steamed savory egg custard) and stewed vegetables. But some of the meat family was represented via fried chicken and sanma fish. There was even some savory pots of curry and platters of pizza. I actually did get quite stuffed on the fare there. Not exactly one of the cheapest buffets at 1,600 yen but I got my money's worth. Didn't really need any dinner after that.

It was a pretty direct beeline over to 002's place since we were all in Chiba that day. She was fine as usual. The trip over to the juku took a bit longer than expected due to some jinshin jiko at Waseda Station...it couldn't have been a jumper since Waseda is a local underground station. Most likely, it was some person who collapsed or something. Anyways, I got to the juku a half-hour later than usual. No problems, though.
Just like the Beehive, the juku is currently in transition mode. Seven is on the disabled list and The Siberian will be missing for a couple of weeks. So, it was just Chip N' Dale, The Milds and Jolly with an hour to hour-and-a-half breaks in between. The boss felt very badly for me about that despite reassuring her that I didn't mind. In fact, I think she was being a little too adamant on poor Jolly that he should try to come for the 9 o'clock slot instead of his usual 10 o'clock, since he is the customer after all. We're serving him, not vice versa.

When I got home last night, I was on the can when my phone rang at two separate times. The caller didn't bother to leave a message so I just assumed it was Mom who usually does that. So I gave her a call this morning...apparently, it wasn't her last night so I'm kinda wondering who would do such a thing at 11:30 p.m.
I found out from Mom that a family friend of many decades had passed on last week from cancer. Our two families lived very close to each other...maybe just 15 minutes walk. And all during my childhood, it would be rather common for us to go to each other's houses. I hadn't seen her in many years though since I decided to put down roots in Japan. This news plus the fact that my old friend of also many years' standing, The Entrepreneur, got hitched on the same day made me realize that the times were indeed flying by.

Talking about old friends, The Wild Guy called up out of the blue. Apparently, he will be coming back to these shores from the 10th to look up some more possibilities for securing a job. And he asked me if he could stay with me for "a while" as he does some interviews. I couldn't really say no to him but part of me isn't too eager since I'm quite happy with my privacy. Well, he told me that he wasn't sure about the accomodations quite yet and that his enigmatic wife wasn't too happy about him imposing on me (it's the Japanese custom of not making trouble). We'll just see what happens. But it may mean that I'll have to spend part of Sunday overhauling my steadily deteriorating apartment, cockroaches and all. I did hear from him, though, that The Egg and his wife finally got themselves a condo at Yonge and Eglinton from 2009.

I dried out sufficiently to teach The New Yorker today. Initially, I was wondering whether to change venues to the Starbucks just above Ichigaya Station so as not to get surprised by ambush precipitation but the rains kindly held off during our walk to and from the Tullys. Actually, The New Yorker was pretty good today since the usual amount of raucous ambient noise was much lower (we were sitting beside some Buddhist monk type).

Tonight, I've got my Wednesday night lineup of 001 and The Judge. I haven't seen his honour in a couple of weeks because he had taken his family to Fukuoka for a bit of vacation. The Manhattanite, a girl I haven't seen in many weeks, was poked into the schedule between 001 and The Judge. It'll be a packed night but all of the folks are good ones so the hours should pass by fairly swimmingly.

Tomorrow, I've got bupkiss on the schedule so I may pull off another hikikomori-like recluse day like I did on Saturday. Plus, with that typhoon coming in, outdoor conditions may not be too nice anyways. I'm gonna feel sorry for that delivery guy who has to bring over the latest package for The Anime King. I will probably fill up on food and drink on my way home tonight so that I don't have to step out of the apartment.

Monday September 3, 5:12 p.m.

A little back to the heat wave of last month, although it doesn't feel all that searing out there. It was a pretty glorious weekend, weatherwise, though. But we do have a potential typhoon headed our way mid-week.

As for my weekend...well, Saturday was certainly interesting. It was the first time in nearly a decade (since I had broken my ankle in a fall) that I didn't take a single step outside my door for more than 24 hours. Getting into a funk after paying all that money for health insurance premiums, rent and Citizen's Tax on Friday night can definitely induce one to become somewhat reclusive. I didn't even go out for food...I was afraid to go out for food. Basically, aside from yogurt, juice, coffee and a little cake I'd gotten from The Ace as a souvenir (namely, breakfast), I fasted. Actually, it wasn't all that bad. I was only being a couch potato so my stomach didn't register any pangs. The experience didn't give my any epiphanies although I'm happy to realize that I can go without any sustenance for a period of time. Really, I came to the conclusion that most of the time I eat not for survival but for the good taste. Maybe, if anything, it will lead to a bit better self-control.

I did manage to catch "300" on DVD, thanks to the Anime King's gift. It was more soul-satisfying than "Transformers" so it was a pity to hear that its theatrical release had underwhelmed whereas "Transformers" is pretty much guaranteed of a sequel or two.
I'd never caught "Sin City" when it came out so "300" was my first exposure to a Frank Miller film (I don't consider "Batman" or "Batman Begins" or "Daredevil" as Milleresque films...they're solidly the work of their directors). The use of greenscreen was obvious but not overwhelming...luckily, the heart and acting of folks like Gerard Butler kept the balance. And the story was simple enough, and more importantly, the battle scenes were easy to recognize.
Watching "300" though reminded me of Klingons. All throughout the reign of the Trek sequels (TNG and DS9), Klingons were often compared to the Japanese samurai with their code of honour and other facets of battle philosophy. However, I couldn't help but think that the Spartans, an entire society seemingly developed to be violent sociopaths, were more influential on the formation of Klingons. David Wenham's raspy narration reminded me of corrupt Chancellor Gowron, and even the guy who played Xerxes sounded more like Commander Worf. I half-expected him to order his Immortals to fire photon torpedoes.
In any case, I liked "300" more than I had expected to...but after watching the mind-numbing "Transformers", anything would've been an improvement. I kinda wonder if there will be a sequel to this movie. Considering the final scene, it will probably be called "40,000".

Sunday was another day at home, but I did step out to get some food. The only major highlight was seeing Eiko Koike make yet another congratulatory appearance on a variety program. Who she, you say? Well, she's probably the most successful member of the group known loosely as "Yellow Cab", a bunch of young ladies known for their breast sizes, at least initially. The amalgam included current tarento like MEGUMI, Waka Inoue and Eriko Sato. All of the ladies had already broken out of their gravia idol photobooks and gone into the tarento world of variety shows, quiz programs, and serial dramas. But Koike seems to be the one with the greatest exposure...ahem.
Well, last week, her standing exploded when she announced her marriage to her wrestler boyfriend. Basically, every variety show that she appeared in got the round of applause and congratulatory statements for her.

On the government front, Prime Minister Abe must be feeling like the entire weight of the world wasn't just only on his shoulders but as if Atlas himself was stomping on the world at the same time. Yet another Agriculture Minister fell on his sword again just this morning for some rather dubious financial dealings. And this, just a week after his Cabinet re-shuffle. I figure that if another major scandal erupts in the next month, there will be snap elections coming so fast that it'll probably blow back any typhoon headed our way. BTW, there is one on the way for midweek, apparently.

Today, I found out how long people can dwell and hold grudges. I had The Class Act for the first time in a few weeks. We were talking about our trip to Hong Kong when the ladies reminded me (and to me at least, not so jokingly) about what a washout I was as a communicator during the Korea trip last year. Nope, I admit, I let the side down when I couldn't really do anything about my lack of Korean skills there but I just wish they wouldn't hit me over the head with it. And to add insult to injury, The Lady seemed rather brusque when she told me to fax my flight details over to her and The Matron. I kinda wonder if I will really enjoy this trip, now that I've got this pressure on me.

Well, in any case, I've got to head out to teach The Full-Timer.