Back to work, and what a strange day to return on. The first good news was that nobody really noticed that I was gone for three days until yesterday at about lunchtime. Mr. Hayashi turned in my time off request for me, and so I got three days off for the price of four hours. Oh yeah…

The day was strange because it was the day we met all of the new teachers and staff that have replaced the folks that transferred. Everyone was nervous, and to start with the teachers all moved to their new desks. Initially I had heard that I was moving along with all the other teachers, but it turns out that I’m staying right where I am. The seat next to me will be occupied by a part-time teacher who rarely comes in, so there’s a free seat for anybody to use anytime they want. Today the history teacher, Mr. Urakami, made judicious use of the seat and wouldn’t leave me alone. He visited four times and even came to talk to me while I was eating lunch. I tried to give him the hint by answering his questions with my mouth full, but he just kept on talking. Yikes.

We had several meetings today, and the new teachers had to do their self-introductions, which is pretty nerve-wracking, believe me. They did OK, and the two new English teachers seem pretty nice. One is really nervous, so I hope she lightens up and starts to relax.

After all the meetings, Mr. Hayashi had arranged a big BBQ at his place. We all piled into his car and drove over to Kakogawa. On the way we picked up Kuniko, and we pretended like we didn’t just spend six days with each other 24/7. Mr. Hayashi built a pretty good BBQ and we had sausages as an appetizer while drinking cold beer. He had purchased some tenderloin filets, and he cooked those up next with some scallops. We ate and talked and drank, and halfway through the meal Miss Yamamoto came by after her first day at her new school. She said that almost no English is spoken in their English department, so she’s afraid that her English skills will suffer there. At least there is an ALT there to speak with. It’s a British girl, so she’ll have to do some accent adjustment, but I’m sure it won’t be a big deal.

Everyone was having a great time, and when it got dark we went inside and had a cheesecake for dessert and talked with Mr. Hayashi’s son from Shikoku. He understood most of what we said in English, and did a good job holding up his side of the conversation.

Finally, we packed up and Miss Yamamoto gave Mr. Komuri, Mr. Kimura and I are ride to the nearest Sanyo train station. Mr. Komuri was pretty happy, and once we got to the station we made a wrong turn on appeared on the wrong platform directly across from us. He decided to sneak across the train tracks instead of going all the way back around. I’ve seen a lot of weird things in Japan, but seeing someone dash across train tracks that frequently have a speeding train on them is pretty scary. Tomorrow is Friday, and I’m definitely ready for the weekend.

Wednesday we went out to explore another part of Tokyo, Odaiba, which is known for being the home of Fuji television. We took several trains to get there, and then walked around the area while I took pictures and took in the sights. The place wasn’t so crowded, and we explored the Fuji Television building, with very strange architecture and many equally strange characters inhabiting it.

In the distance we could see a ferris wheel, so we went out to the wheel and gave it a ride so I could take some more pictures. Along the way we were very impressed with a big building sponsored by Toyota. Inside you could see many of their cars, and even drive some of the minute cars they use for commuting around here. The test drive let you go around a miniature track, both inside and outside the building, with automatic doors that opened and closed after you pass. Reservations were required, otherwise we were game for the experience.

After the ferris wheel we went inside a big shopping center designed similarly to many of the shopping centers in Las Vegas. The place was called Venus Fort, and it had lots of restaurants to choose from. We picked one out mainly from the lighting and interior design, and enjoyed an all you can eat (called “Viking” in Japan) meal. There were some things that I haven’t had in a long time, some meat that unintentionally was similar to carnitas, smoked chicken, and pretty good pizza. We both ate big, and then we made the long journey back to the Tokyo train station.

This time around we spent an extra $20 and got reserved seats for the Bullet Train. What a difference those made – we had tons of leg room, the seats reclined way back and we were in the back of the train so there was nobody to bother when we reclined. After the grueling three hour standing trip on the way here, it made the $20 seem like the best investment I’ve ever made.

Kuniko and I shared my headphones on the way back and the trip went by in a flash. We had thought to bring drinks and snacks, which helped a lot. We pulled into Shin-Osaka station, and together we walked over to Kuniko’s apartment to grab my stuff. She walked me back to the station, and I was home around six o’clock – tired and exhausted.

Now I feel like I’ve done Tokyo justice, and covered at least the major sights. There are a lot more things to see and do there, but I think I can give that town a rest for a while. I’m looking forward to some small town comforts here in Futami-cho for a little while.

Even though we were both exhausted from walking all over Tokyo the day before, we got ourselves up early and made it to Tokyo Disneyland an hour before the gates opened. As we walked down the ramp from the train station to the park, I had that childlike feeling of excitement building inside. We both walked faster and were joined by many people also making the trip to the park. We got in line for tickets, and waited about an hour for tickets. Then we got in line to go inside the park and we waited 45 minutes to get inside. By the time we got in, the park was pretty busy already.

The park was laid out similarly to Disneyland in California. There were some minor variations, but that just made it more interesting. The rides themselves were exact copies – I mean exact. Some small changes were made to allow for more or less real estate, but basically it was the same thing. The pirates spoke Japanese on the Pirates of the Caribbean, as well as the ghosts of the Haunted Mansion. There was some English on other rides, but for the most part it was converted to Japanese language.

We did a couple of rides right away, and the lines were relatively short to start with. As we walked around, though, more and more people came in and by lunchtime, the lines were ridiculously long. The caramel corn line was 35 minutes – no joke. We waited for 30 minutes for a fast pass to come back in a couple of hours, which was pretty handy.

After spending some time in Universal Studios Japan, a much more modern theme park, I could see a lot of room for improvement. Disneyland Tokyo has been around for 20 years, and how they handle crowds seems a bit antiquated. Many of the lines spilled out across major walking areas, so people couldn’t get through. Some lines were so long that people were getting in line without knowing what they were waiting for.

Despite the crowds, we managed to do all the rides that we wanted to except one, and we left the park around 2 p.m. On our way out we did omiyage shopping. The shops were designed for Japanese shoppers, with packages of omiyage, really cute character items, and plenty of different stores along the way to catch every last yen in your pocket.

We made the trip back to the hotel, and crashed out – and we didn’t wake up until almost seven o’clock. While we were sleeping it had started pouring rain, so we ran out to the nearest convenience store and bought an umbrella, and then together we walked the streets until we found a decent ramen restaurant. Afterwards we walked around a bit more, and then went back to the hotel to watch more strange Japanese TV programming and hit the sack.

Around 7 a.m. we walked over to the train station, went into the ticket booth and plunked down around $120 each for a ticket to Tokyo on the Bullet Train. We got our tickets, walked up the stairs to the platform, and found our car. Once we got inside, we realized that we had bought unreserved seats. That meant that along with everyone else in the last three cars we had to find our own seats or stand. Of the back three cars that we could use, one was a smoking car, so that wasn’t an option. We did what everyone else did – we stood in the aisles holding onto anything solid, and hoped that somebody near us would get up so that we could get their seat. Unfortunately, during the three hour trip, a seat didn’t open up until the last ten minutes. That meant that we were on our feet for almost the whole three hours, which was pretty tough.

We had also jumped on the train without buying anything to eat or drink, and although we had a big breakfast, we got pretty thirsty. I was dying for something to drink, and I found out later that there were vending machines in the front of the train. We stood and suffered through.

One highlight came after we passed Nagoya closing in on Yokohama. The guy standing next to us motioned for us to bend over and look out the window, and when we did we had a startlingly good view of Mount Fuji. The day was clear and the top capped with snow was an amazing sight. That is one big mountain, and it seems to sit there along without any other hills nearby. I’m hoping to climb it later this year, but after seeing it I’m thinking that I had better start working a little harder to get in shape.

Kuniko and I counted down the last hour until we arrived, and finally we were able to get off the train and walk into Tokyo station. The first thing I did was buy a big bottle of green tea and chug it, and then we sat down and looked at our hotel options.

We found a travel agency that had some cheap hotels listed on a brochure, so we called around using Kuniko’s cell phone. I realized how nice it was having a native speaker around that could not only handle details like accomodations, but also read signs along the way and smooth over lots of little bumps that would have spun me out.

After making a reservation at a hotel (the cheapest place with it’s own bathroom was about $120 a night), we tried to figure out how to get there. The brochure said it was a five minute drive from the station, but getting there by train proved to be a little more difficult. We could have taken the taxi, but we found a way to swing through some of the more scenic areas of Tokyo and then drop off our stuff at the hotel between stops. Kuniko worked out the transfers on a train and subway map that she had brought. I had brought a map, too, and I could have figured it out myself if I was alone, but in the end I just was lazy and let Kuniko handle it. What takes me five minutes she had done in five seconds, and so I just lived with the guilty feeling and went along with her directions.

Our first stop was Ueno park. I had wanted to visit Ueno park since hearing about it from my friend David Schmidt back when I was taking Japanese at Grossmont College. Kuniko and I found our way there easily, and walked through. The place was crowded with people, and when we found the right path and walked through the park, we joined a huge stream of people enjoying the blooming of the cherry trees. The path way lined with blossoming trees, and it made for a pretty dramatic sight.

At Ueno park we had a quick lunch at a small cafe, and the highlight there was checking out the automatic beer refilling machine outside the cafe. The next stop was Asakusa, the site of a famous temple and gate that was swarming with tourists, both Japanese and foreign. Loads of incense burned inside a big pit, and we waved the incense into our hair and clothes to encourage good health and success.

We found our hotel afterwards, and checked in. We had reserved a “Japanese style” hotel room, which meant futons on the floor and tatami mats. No big deal, it’s the same setup I have at home. The bathroom did have a cool automatic toilet seat that squirted water just about anywhere you liked, and a nice deep tub.

We unloaded all our stuff and sat down for a bit to plan our next move. After consulting our maps we found that our hotel was near a station that was actually quite convenient, and near to all the things that we wanted to see while in Tokyo. We decided to book the same hotel for another night, and then we left most of our gear in our room and headed out again.

What followed was a whirlwind tour of neighborhoods and areas on Tokyo that I was unable to see during my first visit – mainly because I was afraid of getting lost. We visited Roppongi, and toured the area surrounding the Asahi television studios. We walked around Shinjuku, a different area that I had toured while in Tokyo initially. We wound up our trip by going to the Ginza area and then back to the Tokyo station to meet up with Tomo-chan, Kuniko’s friend that lives in Tokyo.

We met up and had dinner at a place known for it’s California cuisine. I started to get excited when Tomo-chan said that the portions were much larger than your standard “Japanese-sized” portions. We ordered some spaghetti, Tex-mex fajitas, and a Caesar salad. Everything was great. The spaghetti was delicious, the fajitas were pretty close to what you get at Chevy’s, and the Caesar salad was perfect. I had a quick seminar to show Kuniko and Tomo-chan how to make a fajita, and then we all started eating. It was a big highlight of the trip for me.

After dinner we went to the top floor to enjoy some nice views of downtown Shinjuku, and then we took a cab back to the hotel. Kuniko and the cab driver spoke in Japanese all the way back to the hotel, and I was surprised how much more I could pick up when Japanese people use the polite form of Japanese. As soon as they switch to the more informal form, I start to have a hard time.

Exhausted from so much walking and standing we crashed out on our futons, but not before deciding on our next destination. We decided to splurge and visit Tokyo Disneyland. We’ll go as long as our feet will hold us, and despite a rain warning, it should be a good time.

Sunday morning we had a big breakfast – Kuniko cooked up miso soup, rice, and we had some yogurt and orange juice on the side. I cooked up tamago-yaki which turned out pretty good. Then we were off to Kyoto.

We pulled into Kyoto station right at 10 a.m., and met up with Yasu and Reiko, his girlfriend. It was my first time meeting Reiko, and Yasu’s first time meeting Kuniko. Antoine showed up almost 40 minutes late because he got on the wrong train, which is something of a habit of Antoine’s.

Everyone gathering together was a meeting of three different parts of my life in Japan – Antoine is a native Californian and someone that came over on the same airplane as I. Yasu lives in the same apartment complex as I so we get together socially every once in a while. Kuniko is someone that I used to see just during work, but lately more and more after work. None of them had ever met the others, but had always heard stories through me. I was a little worried that bringing all these people together might be weird, and that it wouldn’t work, but it actually turned out great.

Of all of us, Reiko was the only one that didn’t really speak English, but Yasu and Kuniko kept her busy in Japanese. Kuniko and Yasu hit it off really well as they have a shared interest in learning English to further their careers, and Antoine got along with everyone with his sense of humor and antics. I had no reason to worry.

We all got on a bus and headed over to see some of the more famous sights in Kyoto. Because time was tight we only saw a few highlights, but the blossoming cherry trees made every place just a bit more dramatic. Yasu was a great tour guide, and he led us through the streets quickly and efficiently, sometimes cutting through alleys and bypassing huge tourist groups backing up the streets and sidewalks.

After visiting some temples and a park, we went to lunch at an upstairs okonomiyaki place. The okonomiyaki was great, and we had good conversations in both English and Japanese. Antoine told a few stories in English, and Yasu and I downed a couple of beers. After lunch we went down a few more alleys and emerged back at Kyoto station, just in time for a free concert by Quruli. We had missed out on getting free tickets, so we set up in front of a giant TV to watch the show. We were pretty far away from that, though, and so Antoine, Kuniko and I stayed only for about half the show before we said goodbye to Yasu and Reiko.

We shared a train part of the way back with Antoine – we wanted him to get back OK – and he had us laughing while he danced and swayed with the motion of the train. Some of the other passengers watched him with something close to horror as he talked loudly in English and danced around in a completely sober drunken swagger.

Kuniko and I decided to go out for dinner in Osaka since we were getting ready for our big trip to Tokyo early the next morning. We went to an Indian food place right near her house. The food was really good – another great reason to visit Osaka. While ordering I noticed that one of the dishes was called Karai, which happens to mean “spicy” in Japanese. I asked the waiter if it was spicy, and he assured me that it wasn’t, just a coincidence on the name. I was a little disappointed, but since it looked so good I ordered it anyway. The cook must have overheard us and decided to burn me a bit, because the dish arrived and I was sweating as I powered down the food. It was so good. The waiter was on top of things and kept bringing water, and Kuniko got a big laugh out of watching me sweat while I ate.

We shopped for some goodies for the trip on Monday, and then went back and crashed out early – our legs were tired from walking all over Kyoto.

Saturday morning we went out and bought some groceries, knowing that the refrigerator was due to be delivered that day. After breakfast we took off to do some shopping in Osaka – we had to get a rice cooker and an oven, too. I kind of followed Kuniko along while she shopped like crazy, comparing prices and choosing things based on specifications and charts that I couldn’t read. There were several places that were having “bargains”, filled with women digging through piles of clothes looking for that special deal.

At the huge Yodobashi Camera store we met one of Kuniko’s friends, Ai-chan. Kuniko said she was bringing me along, but didn’t mention that I was a foreigner, and Ai-chan couldn’t stop laughing/staring when she met us. Shock is probably not too strong of a word. After the initial amazement wore off she settled down and I was able to have a short conversation with her in Japanese. Later as she relaxed we switched to English, and she did pretty well. She seemed like a really nice person, just not ready for surprises like me.

We met another of Kuniko’s friends for coffee in the JR station at Umeda, and all three of them had a great big conversation in Japanese while I strained to understand even one sentence. It wasn’t easy. Both of her friends were curious, and it had been more than a year since they had seen Kuniko last. They had a lot of catching up to do, so I just relaxed, drank some coffee, and tried to catch what I could.

We said goodbye to her friends, and then Kuniko and I went back to the apartment just in time for the arrival of her new fridge and clotheswasher. Afterwards Kuniko cooked up some homemade gyoza (pot stickers). Sunday is a big day in Kyoto for some touristy stuff and also a concert.

I made the trip down to Shin-Osaka, which is the closest station to Kuniko’s new aparment. The Shin-Osaka station is a very large station that includes the regular Japan Rail lines, and also has the Shinkansen (Bullet Train). Kuniko was waiting for me at the gate, and she walked me to her new place. The neighborhood is pretty nice – very nice by American standards and so-so by Japanese standards. She lives in an apartment complex that is for college students, but her teacher status gets her in.

The place was small, much smaller than my place. Her living room/sleeping area is about the same size as one and a half of my rooms. The bathroom is a bit larger than mine, though. The kitchen area is tiny! She didn’t have any appliances yet – so we went out to dinner the first night. We grabbed some ramen down the street and we explored some back alleys and got to know the neighborhood a little better. Afterwards we got some dessert and watched Japanese TV for a little while, and I struggled to understand what the heck was going on during the programs. Saturday Kuniko is getting some appliances delivered so we’ll probably be hanging around near the apartment.

I met up with Carrie on a rainy evening in Himeji, and we decided to go for Persian food, since that was something I couldn’t recall having ever eaten. Turns out it was like a shish-kebab place, and the food was great! It was pretty spicy and the atmosphere was a strange mix of Arab restaurant and British pub. The owner was very pleased to have us in the place, and recognized Carrie – I guess she’s a regular.

We sat and caught up – Carrie has been having a lot of adventures, but we mainly talked about our day to day adventures at school with our students. She teaches at a school that is 90% girls, so her stories are always a bit different than mine.

After dinner we did a little shopping at a place that had some foreign foods, and I picked up some spaghetti and Italian sauce for part of Kuniko’s housewarming gift. We also explored a three story 100 yen store, and poked through lots of strange, curious items that make you wonder how they arrived in Japan. They had hundreds of glasses embossed with “Tuscon, Ariz.” on the front. Hmm….

I walked Carrie back to her train station, and then backtracked to mine and caught the limited express back to Higashi Futami. I’m doing my final packing for tomorrow, and then I should be ready for another adventure. More when I get back!

I knew I would be writing this entry sooner or later, and it seems like now is the time. If you hadn’t already noticed, Miss Kageyama and I have been spending lots of time together lately, and ever since I met her for the first time on August 1st I’ve enjoyed her company.

We’ve been dating since December, and Japanese protocol meant that we had to keep our dating a secret. At times it has been tough, other times exciting, but very soon many of our friends, coworkers, and family will know the big secret. Since we’re no longer working together, it isn’t going to be a problem to be dating, so we can tell other people. The one that we’re both worried about is Mr. Hayashi – he’s discouraged us from seeing each other in subtle ways in the past.

Tomorrow after school I’m going to Osaka to see her place for the first time, and we’ll be using her apartment as a homebase until Sunday night. We’ll be making a trip into Kyoto for a concert with Yasu and Antoine. On Sunday or Monday the plan is to either take the Bullet Train or a highway bus to Tokyo, and spend two days and two nights exploring more of that enormous city. I won’t be back home until Thursday of next week, so I’ll post lots of updates when I get return. Right now I’m getting ready to meet Carrie in Himeji for dinner, and then it’s packing again when I get back.

Now you’re up to date with Miss Kageyama. Until today I’ve always used her family name in my journal, but from now on I’ll use her given name – in Japan a sign of initimacy and familiarity. I’m looking forward to a great weekend with Kuniko, and I’ll tell you how it works out when I get back!

Today at work they revealed the worst kept secret by announcing officially who is being transferred, and who is staying. Everyone seemed to know already, but I guess they had to announce it anyway. In the morning between meetings I went into the weight training room and did a 30 minute workout to kill some time. Later, Mr. Komuri invited me to go for a drive with him in his car – a 2000 VW Beetle. It’s bright red and the license plate is 911, because it is as close to a Porsche as he’s going to get.

He let me drive around the parking lot, so I got to drive a car for the first time in seven months. It felt good. The Beetle is a left-hand drive, just like in the U.S., so it was easy to get used to. He offered to let me out on the road, but I declined – the last thing I want is to get tossed in jail for illegal driving.

The rest of the day was spent in meetings, where we tried to establish who was teaching what class and when. I have little to no say in the matter, so I just sat there and tried to understand the rapid-fire Japanese. Just from the outline I got it looks like I’ll have fewer classes next year, so I might have some more free time every week. That’s fine by me – I’m hoping to study Japanese even harder in the near future.

After school I went home and Yasu came over. He just got back from a trip to Bali, and brought me back a T-shirt and some tea. I had only brought him back a cookie from Korea, so I had an embarrassing omiyage moment there. We talked for a while, and then we went to the yakitori for some food. We came right back and drank some more beers here and made plans for Sunday’s free concert in Kyoto.

The band is Kururi, a Japanese band that Yasu turned me on to. They sound pretty good, and the free show is at Kyoto station, so it will be easy to get to. We’ve got a good plan to get there, and even a backup if it is too crowded to see. They have a giant screen somewhere else that he knows about, so we can see it from the screen in case of emergency.

Speaking of concerts, a long time ago Yasu had called in to a radio station and earned the right to buy tickets to a Radiohead concert in Osaka next month. It is sold out, but since he did this so early he thinks they are great seats. The guy that was supposed to go with him bowed out, and so he asked me to go with him. The tickets are expensive – live music is way too expensive in Japan – but I said I would. I’ve never seen Radiohead and this will be a good experience to see a live show in Japan.

Tomorrow is a quiet day at work. I’m meeting Carrie in Himeji for dinner to catch up – it’s been a while since we’ve done anything together. Friday night I’m planning on going into Osaka to visit Miss Kageyama and see her new place. Should be a fun weekend!

Today I went in to school at the normal time, but we were just doing a closing ceremony and trading rumors about staff transfers. I found out that several teachers I like are leaving, some I don’t like are leaving, and a couple that I was afraid were going to transfer are staying.

Mr. Komuri is a member of the union, and somehow gets advance notice who is going and leaving, and even who is replacing them. He shared the confidential information with me, even though they aren’t announcing them officially until tomorrow.

Mr. Komuri himself was rumored to be leaving, which would have been a big bummer for me – he’s a great personality to work with and is a big highlight of my workday. Luckily he is staying. Miss Kotera was a surprise transfer – she is going to have to teach night school somewhere. From her attitude today I think it’s a rude shock to her, and not a good transfer at all. She’s really nice – but she must have pissed somebody off.

Miss Yamamoto is being transferred, as she suspected, so we’ll have a new English teacher to replace her. Another English teacher, Mr. Momoki (the teacher I escorted to the mid-year seminar) is leaving too. So we’ll have two new people to “break in” next term. I’ll be teaching with each of these people quite a bit, so I hope they are nice. The bad news according to Mr. Hayashi is that they are in their 40’s, which means they probably are really conservative when it comes to English learning.

I had promised my ESS members that we would watch a movie after school today, so I brought in my Tomb Raider 2 DVD that Miss Kageyama had given me and we watched that on my classroom’s player. The player is top end and the TV is a flat screen monitor – somebody’s budget took a hit somewhere along the line. It’s only the second time I’ve used it.

We had a great time with the movie – we watched it with the Japanese subtitles on, but the students kept asking me what this or that meant during the movie. People were talking and everyone was snacking on chips and goodies – it was a lot of fun. We decided that we’re going to watch Pirates of the Caribbean next. It was a popular meeting, and I think I might be able to win over a few more members with meetings like this.

After school I came home and decided to make maki-zushi. I made some at the school librarian’s house a while back with her help, but this time I did it alone, and it turned out great. I made mine just with egg – I didn’t have any crab laying around. It was so easy that I’m going to try to pick up some ingredients next time I’m out and make some more.

While I made sushi I was listening to John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, and shuffling around my apartment in slippers sipping iced milk coffee. It’s a nice lifestyle that I have here, and I’m trying to appreciate these moments while they’re here.

Miss Kageyama called a few minutes ago and told me all about her new job. It turns out she’s going to be a homeroom teacher, which means lots of hours. She’s also going to be working in the guidance office, which means long hours, too. She will be working six days a week, with Friday off. She is one of eight new English teachers that the school has hired, and I think the workload probably contributed to eight of them leaving at once. All this means that I’ll be seeing a lot less of Miss Kageyama in the future.

To remedy that, we’ve got a couple of things planned in the near future. We’re talking about a trip to Tokyo, and also I’m trying to get Antoine, Yasu, and Miss Kageyama together on Sunday to see a free concert in Kyoto.

Yesterday was a nice easy day recovering from my drinking ordeals on Sunday, and last night I went out with Miss Kageyama to see a movie. Before we left for the movie I invited her over to give her some omiyage and we just decided to stay in and cook up an easy dinner before the movie. We cooked up some easy curry packets and rice, and then we took off for the movie.

The movie was “Paycheck”, starring Ben Affleck, and it was kind of a weird movie. Maybe it was just my mood but it seemed pretty cheesy. The premise was cool, but I think they just took it to the wrong extreme. Lots of potential, but didn’t cut it.

After the movie Miss Kageyama dropped me off – she is going to her first day at school on Tuesday, so she was a little bit nervous about it. She’ll do fine, but any new job situation can be tough. I’ll get details from her when she gets back.

Last evening I walked up to the Tsuchiyama station, and made a short trip to Kakogawa to attend the retirement party for three of our teachers. I stepped out of the station and waited around for Mr. Hayashi to pick me up. I was surprised when Miss Kageyama’s car showed up with Mr. Hayashi in the passenger seat! She drove us both to the hotel and dropped us off, then she was off to another party for her other school.

We walked inside and everyone was kind of waiting around in the lobby. I was impressed with the hotel – it’s a lot nicer than I’d expect for Kakogawa. We paid our money to a couple of cashiers at the front, and then drew a number to find out where we will sit. This is the same as the last official party I went to – kind of an interesting way to keep things from becoming too chummy. Mr. Hayashi drew a number, then arranged for me to skip the drawing process and just sit by him.

As we walked into the banquet room, Mr. Hayashi kind of set me up to sit between him and Miss Shigata, the second year teacher that’s been making goo-goo eyes at me all year. She had tried to get me to go to Kyoto with her, but I managed to dodge that. Now here I was stuck next to her, and the worst part is that it is Japanese custom to pour drinks for your neighbors, so we were filling each other’s glass all night.

Another thing that is different about these kind of parties is that there is beer and sake everywhere, but nobody drinks until the toast speech. We had to sit through three long speeches surrounded by bottles and bottles of Asahi Super Dry that were getting warmer by the minute. Finally, after the first round of speeches were over, we made the toast, and then it was a drink-a-thon.

Mr. Hayashi kept urging me to pour drinks for Miss Shigata. He told me “She likes you very much, I think” and “Afterwards you should ask her to go somewhere with you”. It was like having a little devil on my shoulder the whole night.

Meanwhile, Miss Shigata was enjoying all the attention, asking me questions, filling my glass, and watching me eat with chopsticks and silverware with equal amazement. On stage more speeches started, one by the principal listing all the accomplishments of each teacher over the years. The teachers each sat in a chair on the stage with their heads bowed listening carefully. Each retiring teacher had an introduction from one of the younger teachers, and this was almost like a roast – they gave them a hard time.

Mr. Komuri did a cool activity where he handed out paper to each table, and we had to come up with a Japanese kanji character that best represented the retiring teacher’s life. I only knew a few, so I didn’t really have anything to contribute, but it was a good idea.

After their introduction, the retiring teacher would make a speech. I’m not sure what they said, but they tended to talk for a long time. It was strange to me, it seemed to go against my ideas of modesty and humility – some speeches went for twenty minutes. Part of it is that these teachers have been lecturing students for forty years and it must be a hard habit to break, but I part of it is that this is really their last chance to say things before they leave. Retiring at sixty years old is mandatory in Japan, and it is generally considered to be the end of your life when you leave work. So much work is put in early to choose a good career and to do your best, when you reach sixty there’s not a big tangible goal in front of you anymore.

The dinner wrapped up and the activities leading up to the end got stranger and stranger. At one point one of the P.E. teachers staggered up to the front of the party, sang out the teacher’s name, and then did some kind of crazy punching in the air while we clapped in time. Then we all cheered. Kind of like Hip-Hip-Hooray but with martial arts. The guests of honor announced that they were leaving, which probably had more to do with the amount of beer the hotel had than anything else, and we all formed an arch with our hands and they walked through it.

Afterwards, Mr. Hayashi urged Miss Shigata to stay with me and take care of me, because he had to leave. He took off, and I was stuck trying to think quickly with an alcohol drenched brain. I looked wildly around to the room – people were leaving one by one, and I saw Mr. Komuri talking with someone. I walked over and asked him if he would join me for a drink or something. At first he said that he had to leave, but maybe he saw the desperation in my eyes. He agreed, and something strange happened.

A lot of the teachers that were just kind of lingering in the lobby suddenly started gravitating to us, and we found ourselves with a group of ten people. Ah, safety in numbers. We walked from place to place in Kakogawa, finding that most things were closed because it was Sunday. Finally we found an izakaya that was open, and it turned out to be quite nice.

We sat and drank for an hour or two, and I made sure that I sat at the opposite side of the room from Miss Shigata. Just as everyone was sitting down, I snuck off to the restroom, and when I returned, all the drunk guys had cozied up next to the drunk girls, and I sat at the end next to Mr. Komuri.

Finally, we had enough izakaya grub, and so we all went to the station, and went our separate ways. I arrived home late, and went right to sleep. It was a good party, and I’m glad that I can rest on Monday.

So I’m going through some strange scheduling – Saturday I had off, and I spent it catching up on laundry, talking with my folks and restocking my refrigerator. Today I had to work, and tomorrow (Monday) is a compensatory holiday. Weird.

We went in to work because they were announcing which students made it into our school following the entrance exams. Our regular students came in for a half day, and it seemed like the teachers were having trouble thinking of things for them to do – there were a couple of assemblies that were pretty boring, and lots of teacher’s meetings. I attended three meetings, all of which were on the dry side.

The original plan was to grab lunch at the coffee shop next door to the school, but they were closed on Sunday. So we went to a Chinese food place that was so-so a couple of blocks from the school at the Seiyu shopping center.

I passed out my omiyage, and everyone seemed pleased. I gave out little cookies that have the fat content of several donuts. Everyone was surprised to hear that I had snuck out of the country for a couple of days. The history teacher was especially keen for details, so I spent half an hour telling him about my trip. He got a big kick out of the stories.

Tonight I am going to Kakogawa for a party for the retiring teachers this year. It’s one of those required optional parties, and it’s freaking expensive. There are three teachers retiring, and it’s a Japanese custom to give money to each person. Including dinner and cash gifts I’m forking out $120 tonight. I hope next year there are fewer people retiring – my pocketbook won’t be able to take it!

I’m back from my trip, and so I’ve posted updates all the way back to last Tuesday’s sumo wrestling tournament. You’d better start from the bottom and work your way up.

The trip was great – a quick turnaround, but a great way to get the flavor of Seoul and just a glimpse of South Korea. The best parts – the food, the prices, and the sense of how different everything was. I hope you enjoy the updates. I’m off to get some rest and have a nice easy Saturday. I have to work on Sunday (can you believe that?), but I get Monday off instead.