I walked to the train station today with the wind blowing snow all over the place. The blizzard seemed to be confined to my part of town, because when I got on the train and started west, there wasn’t any snow blowing. When I arrived in Takasago, there was a bit of snow on the ground, and it was a first for me to walk to school in the snow.

My entire morning was spent studying and doing lesson preparation. I talked with Mr. Hayashi about world peace, and with the history teacher about hybrid oranges.

As for classes, I had a couple in the afternoon, and they went pretty well. The students were full of energy, and the classes always seem to go better when they are wired. I really enjoy teaching my students. Even though their level of English is not high compared to other schools, they will usually listen when I am talking, even if they can’t understand. They will struggle to figure things out, and when the light dawns in their eyes – it’s a great feeling.

After school we had a lecture from a visiting counselor who was advising us on how we can best counsel students that need extra help. They have a counselor that comes to our school once a month to deal with any issues that students want to address. It seems like a good idea to me, especially with the suicide rates in this country being so high. Mr. Hayashi considers it a waste of time and money – he says they need security guards more than counselors.

I went over to Azusa’s place for her English lesson, and her mother made me a nice big cup of coffee when we were finished. That hot coffee kept me going on the walk home – that and the gloves, scarf, giant jacket, and four layers of clothing underneath.

I caught dinner at Ito Yokado – some Korean food that I am hoping to cook myself someday. My research method is to eat it, ask the cashier what some of the vegetables are, and then try to source the veggies for myself.

Back home I had a package waiting for me. The music teacher, who had been laid up in the hospital for more than a month with heart problems, came back to school several months ago. He sent me a package of household cleaning supplies as a thank you for the small cash donation I gave him, and as kind of an announcement that he is officially back on his feet. It was a nice gesture – he probably spent all the money that we gave him on gifts for us.

Tomorrow is the last day of winter according to the calendar, and there are some interesting ceremonies that occur in Japanese families. I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow as I eat sushi without talking, facing the lucky direction.

Man, it was cold on the way to work today. The wind has been blowing like crazy, and there was a light dusting of snow on the ground when I peeked outside this morning to decide whether to go jogging. I decided to skip the jog.

There’s not a lot of trees or other buildings besides Ito Yokado, so when I go to work I’m usually walking straight into the wind. This morning it was burning my face it was so cold. I got on the train and warmed up pretty quick, though.

Tuesday is my last busy day of the week. Most of my classes from Wednesday through Friday have been cancelled because the third year students don’t come to school anymore. I just have to get through Monday and Tuesday, and then it’s easy street.

My lesson today was for the second year students, talking about their recent school trip to Hokkaido. I have the same lesson twice with Mr. Yamamoto, and once with Mr. Kimura.

Mr. Kimura has a flair for the dramatic, and sometimes can get off topic. Apparently he does it in Japanese as well as English, but he can make it tough on his students who struggle to understand him.

My lesson today had the students listening to a conversation between Mr. Kimura and myself. I asked him some questions about the trip, like “What did you do in Hokkaido?”, and “Did you go skiing or snowboarding?”. The students are expected to write down his response on their answer sheet. We did the conversation three times, and each time Mr. Kimura would give a different response. Instead of a nice “Yes, I went skiing”, he would say “I enjoyed skiing and dogsledding and eating ramen very very much!”. Then the next time he would say “Dogsledding was fun, but I enjoyed skiing and not snowboarding!” He wasn’t really doing it on purpose, he just likes to talk. The students all had different answers and the lesson didn’t go so well.

Have I ever mentioned how much people in Japan are into brand names? Mr. Hayashi likes to show off the label from his jacket, flash his Rolex, and drop loads of money in Korea on brand name items for his children. It’s not just Mr. Hayashi, though, everyone seems to pay a lot of attention to brand names.

It’s an interesting thing to watch, because I’ve always cared very little about what I wear or who makes it, as long as it is comfortable I’m fine with it. Some students today noticed that I had the word “Columbia” on my jacket, and they were laughing because the name sounds funny. The good news about this brand name infatuation is that you can get great clothes without a brand name cheap in stores like UniQlo. People around here are just slaves to fashion, I guess.

Mr. Hayashi spent some time grinding on me today, telling me to move to San Francisco after JET and get a degree there. He’s not hinting really, just telling me to do it. Like you would tell a teenager to get a haircut. He also told me to start a family and that he knows lots of foreigners in Japan who are miserable.

It would be easy to let the things that Mr. Hayashi say get me down, but when you consider this is the same guy who enjoys discussing his erection problems in public, who considers marriage only a necessary step to having children so you can boast about their success, who compares his students unfavorably to dogs… well, it’s easy to take it all with a grain of salt.

Sometimes it’s nice to get some advice on living in Japan, but in the end I take all his suggestions, commands, and advice and file them away in my short term memory. I think I’ll find my own key to happiness, and go from there.

Tonight’s key to happiness was a big bowl of homemade yakisoba in my (comparatively) warm apartment. I’m getting ready to go in and do some studying – I’ve got a kids book that Tsuji-san loaned me all about pee. Can’t wait.

The second year teachers came back from their school trip to Hokkaido today, and they had lots of omiyage for everyone. I made out really well, with loads of high calorie candy to munch on. I had put in an order for Melon Chocolate flavored Kit Kats, and scored a couple boxes. Nice!

I was busy with classes today, and I had lots of papers to grade, too. One of my students wrote about going to the spermarket to buy things to prepare for a possible tsunami, and I found this unintentionally risque mistake quite amusing. I kept it to myself, though.

During one of my classes the students were really anxious to answer questions, since Mr. Kimura was giving out souvenir chocolates for the correct answer. One particularly active student kept yelling out “I’m Honky! I’m Honky!”, having trouble with the word “Hungry”. I had a good laugh at that, too. Good times at my school.

After school I went over to Tsuji-san’s for Japanese conversation practice, and then I went home. It’s been cold and windy lately, and this week it’s supposed to get really cold. I don’t mind the cold so much as the wind, though. It’s really tough to stay warm in that.

Dinner tonight was some homemade curry that Jane dropped off the other night. I spent the whole evening updating this site – weekend catch-up takes a long time. I’ve got my bed being warmed up with the electric blanket in the next room, and it’s calling my name.

I had a weird schedule today. Kuniko and I got up early, but fell back asleep after breakfast and I didn’t get moving until 10:30. I was due to meet Mr. Komuri in Akashi at noon, so I high-tailed it out of there and got to the station with ten minutes to spare.

We were meeting up for an annual sake brewery party held in the Akashi area. The name of the brewery is Akai Ishi (red stone), which sounds like “Akashi” when you say it fast. Clever.

We met a few ex-Takasago Minami students that were attending the party as well. They were only three years out of high school. They remembered Mr. Komuri really well, and my predecessor, Andy. There was actually a pretty good mix of people, younger and older. We all got on the train to Eigashima, where the brewery is, and I sat down with Mr. Komuri. One of Mr. Komuri’s friends steered a tall Japanese girl over to sit next to me, and I found out that she spoke great English. Her name was Yasuko, and she had done a two year homestay in Canada.

We talked continuously on the train ride over, much to the amusement of Mr. Komuri who was doing everything short of elbowing me in the ribs while I talked with her.

Once we arrived at the brewery we grabbed some seats, and they told us the plan. We took a brief tour of the sake brewery, which was really interesting.

The tour was short but informative. It was all in Japanese, but I could follow the process and see how things were done. This was a really old sake brewery, and it reminded me a lot of the old wineries back home. About the same level of cleanliness, too.

We came back out into the sun, and the drinking began. Each table got two 1.5 liter bottles of sake to drink. They had three different kinds. One kind of sake that I’m getting into lately is nigorizake – cloudy sake. It’s unfiltered, and it has a slightly bitter taste, but it’s really good.

While we were drinking, Yasuko took up a position on my right and introduced us to her family. She had a sister there, her sister’s friend, and then her mother and father. They were all really nice, and because they had gone to Canada many times to visit Yasuko, they were really into all things Western, for example, me.

Yasuko was really asking me lots of questions, slowly circling inward into more personal ones, and I recognized the pattern. She asked if I had a cellphone, and I said yes, and then she asked if she could call me sometime. All this in front of her whole family, who are enjoying the sight of a modern mating ritual. Yikes.

I said sure, and as I turned towards her to give her my number I said in a lower voice, “But, I do have a girlfriend…” She had a good reaction – she just gave me a big smile, and said “OK, maybe I’ll call you to practice English sometime.” Whew.

Mr. Komuri was no help, proclaiming to the table that I was single and available. The table responded with introductions to the single girls. Mr. Komuri probably thought he was doing me a favor. I’ve got to tell my teachers sometime. Maybe it will be soon.

Meanwhile, our table was full of snacks and everyone was eating and drinking. Someone had brought pigs feet and passing those around, and Mr. Komuri was drinking a lot. I knew that I had another event to attend, so I took it slow. As is the case at most parties I go to, I was a big attraction and lots of people came by to say hello, practice English, and compliment me on how strong a drinker I was. A 72 year old guy said that I looked like Tom Hanks. How nice.

Flash forward an hour, and the party is really revving up. The mother of the family is taking picture after picture of everyone – one of me with each of her daughters, and the guy across the table is ready to offer me a job sailing transport ships to Australia. Mr. Komuri was going for broke, so I finally told him that it was time that I should get going. He took the cue and we said goodbye to everyone. Then I guided a slightly wobbly Mr. Komuri down the road towards the station.

We got on the train, and I dropped off Mr. Komuri at the station. He was walking home, so when I saw him head the correct direction I got on JR and went once again to Kobe to meet Kuniko.

It was good to see her at the station, and together we walked out of the station and north. She was hungry and we thought it would be a good idea to get some food before the wedding chapel just in case we got stuck talking to somebody too long. We went over to McDonald’s for a quick burger, and then caught a cab to the wedding place.

This place was similar to the other places that we had looked at. A very nice man named Yamamoto gave us a tour, and even paid for our cab fare. The building was full of different themed rooms. I guess the idea is to get you to fall in love with a room, and then they have some way to get you to get married there. We’ve looked at lots of places, and most look like this:

Sure it looks fancy, but it isn’t really our style. Yamamoto took us to another room, though, and as soon as we walked in, we both got excited. Much more our style:

It was actually two rooms, a reception room that had a full bar, and then the banquet room that was really stylish. It reminded me of the 50’s modern look of “The Incredibles”. The funny thing was that Kuniko really liked it, too. Yamamoto, like a professional sensed this, and told us all about it.

The next stop was a fake wedding ceremony. It went OK, but there was far too much singing and praying going on. We both had some fun with the foreign priest’s accent. He switched between English and Japanese. I asked Kuniko how his Japanese accent was, and she said it wasn’t so good. His English accent was really tough to understand as well. We wrote that information down on the survey they had given us. I only hope he has another language – he wasn’t doing too hot with either of the ones we heard.

Finally we went to a free dinner. It was a way to preview what a reception dinner would be like, and they pulled out all the stops. The had all the Japanese wedding stand-bys… the bubble machine, the memorial candle, the mixing of glowing chemicals, cake cutting ceremony, a chef who came out to cook our steaks to dramatic music, lasers, music videos, everything. I guess if you like something, them you’ll order it for your wedding, so it’s a good way to try everything out.

Kuniko and I were making fun of some of the really cheesy things – and enjoying lots of free food.

It was all fun and games until they announced that the person with the piece of chocolate cake hidden in their dessert should announce themselves. Kuniko had it, so she got to keep the flower bouquet that the fake bride was carrying around. Score!

Finally we wrapped up dinner and headed downstairs. Yamamoto was there and we consulted with him and a few other people about our likes and dislikes. They drew up an estimate based on a very simple wedding – none of the flash and cheese – and so we took that with us to think about. He was pushing us to make a reservation, but we told him that we’d rather wait and decide later. He saw us off at the door, and we headed on foot back to the station, full of delicious food.

I said goodbye to Kuniko at the station and got home fairly late. The last couple of days have been full of events, and it sure feels like the future is coming up fast. We’re both excited, and looking forward to seeing what happens next.

This morning I took the opportunity to sleep and and enjoy a quiet morning. Just before noon I took a train into Himeji and went over to the glasses shop where I had gotten an exam last week. The guy recognized me as I walked in – when you’re a foreigner it’s pretty easy to find your name and order.

I tried on the glasses, and they seemed to fit just fine. He made a few adjustments, and I was pleased with the fit. I put them in their case and packed them away in my backpack – since I was wearing contacts I couldn’t walk around with the glasses on.

My next stop was a train ride into Kobe. Kuniko was in Kobe doing an interview and exam with a high school there, in the hopes of finding a better job than the place she works now. She actually got out of her interview a little early, so we met up at the station. She wasn’t so confident about how she did, but judging from what she said and her body language I think she did OK.

We had expected to meet earlier, so we had lots of time to kill before dinner. We walked around town, tried to catch a movie, but nothing was showing, had some coffee at Starbucks, and finally went over to Tarou, my favorite ramen restaurant. It’s a cool place because they give you all-you-can-eat kimchee. Oh, yeah.

We ate our fill there, and then with full stomachs took the train to Osaka. While we were on the train Kuniko’s phone rang, and it was her school. The guy asked if this was a good time, and Japanese phone etiquette is that you call back when you get off the train. Kuniko rung off and we were left wondering if he had good news or bad. When she had left the school they said that they would get in touch next week.

It was a long train ride, and the suspense was killing me. We got off the train and Kuniko called, but all she got was a weekend answering machine. Oh, no! She called a couple more times, and it was just the automated machine. Bummer. We went back to her place and tried to relax, but they had gotten our hopes up and they were probably sitting at the school waiting for her to call without realizing the answering machine was taking all the calls.

We were just thinking about dessert when he called back and offered Kuniko the job. Kuniko took it on the spot, and now she’s got a one year contract working in Kobe which is a whole lot closer than Osaka.

Now we had some things to think about. We had talked about having Kuniko move in with me – obviously she doesn’t want to stay in Osaka if she’s working in Kobe, and things looking more and more like a November wedding it would be a bad idea to get a place on her own for just a few months. Kuniko got on the horn and sent messages to friends and family telling them the good news. Her father sent a message back and asked when she would be moving back into their house, and so I left it to Kuniko to handle breaking that news to him. We’ll be eating a yakiniku dinner together next Saturday, so this will be a topic for discussion.

Still, we had a lot to celebrate. Kuniko’s job is very stressful, and I’m hoping that she can find a place that is comfortable and fun to be. This will be an exciting change for everyone I think.

I’m wrapping up this strange week of light classes and heavy Japanese study. Today I only had one class – a good group of first year students who were having fun with the lesson.

I spoke a while with Yamada sensei, the head of the first year teachers. We’ve only spoken a few words in the past, usually in Japanese, but she’s been curious lately so we’ve talked a bit more. Today we had a full blown conversation in Japanese, about some pretty heavy topics.

She surprised to hear that most people in America go home after work, that is to say, right after work. In Japan it’s usually the man that works, and it is very common for him to put in lots of overtime, and then go drinking with his co-workers or play pachinko and not get in until 8 or 9 p.m.

She was wondering what American men do when they get home. I said that maybe they help clean the house, maybe make dinner, maybe work on projects, maybe just watch TV. Your average Japanese house is pretty small, and so she thought that the only way that arrangement could work is because American houses and yards are so much bigger. They can accommodate two people being home at the same time.

She was impressed that men sometimes help with cooking and cleaning, which from what I hear is pretty rare here. We talked for a long time, and in the end I was exhausted but glad that I could communicate. Later she commented to me and some other teachers that my Japanese has really improved. To me it seems like it’s always the same, but I guess something must be changing.

We had a sporting event for the first years today during sixth period. It was a three legged race – where you tie two people’s legs together and then they run. They had an interesting twist though, they tied the whole class of 40 students together by the ankles. It ended up being one giant line, and then they had to run 30 meters.

This made for some spectacular wipe-outs, with people’s legs being pulled apart in opposite directions. I walked around and cheered on the students, who constantly tried to get me to join the line. It looked dangerous, though, and I didn’t want to hurt myself or others.

One of my students who has been too shy to speak with me outside of class until now made an effort to come up and say hello. She seems really nice, but so shy – you get the feeling if somebody popped a balloon across the schoolyard she would jump up and run. Anyway, we did a conversation half in English and half in Japanese, and she looked really happy to be talking with me. It was my personal intercultural moment of the day – very cool.

After school I snuck out a half hour early and caught the train home. I bought some chicken that was on sale at Ito Yokado and made a chicken and vegetable rice bowl. It turned out really good – I think I’ve been overcooking chicken all these years. This time I pan seared the pieces in a teriyaki sauce with some sesame oil and a shot of Jamaican hot sauce. Oh yeah.

Tomorrow I’m meeting Kuniko in Kobe after her interview. She has an interview at a private high school in the northern part of Kobe. She’s really hoping to get out of her current job situation at the end of the term, and so I’ve got my fingers crossed for her. We’re planning on catching dinner in Kobe and then heading to Osaka for the evening. The next day I’m going to a sake party with Komuri sensei, and then going right back to Kobe for another wedding fair/dinner with Kuniko. This weekend will be over before I know it!

I skipped running this morning and did some stretches and exercises at home instead. My legs are feeling better, but why push it?

Only one class today, so I spent lots of time studying. I recruited a few Japanese teachers to teach me Japanese, and talked to a few teachers that I don’t normally chat with. I’m trying to use Japanese in the staffroom a little more. It worked really well. Some of the teachers were surprised that I spoke well. I’m not really that good, it’s just that they never hear me speak. Anyway, it felt good to get some feedback.

The history teacher came by several times to chat. He was really excited about how much his English has improved since he has been talking to me. I’ve seen a little improvement, but he tends to make the same mistakes, over and over again. He’s not interested in why he should say things, he just wants to know what to say.

He was saying how great that he was getting this all for free, while the other teachers end up going to private schools and paying for lessons. I thought that was a good time to drop a hint. I told him that I had heard other teachers wanted to speak with me, but they were too nervous when he was around. This is true, and I hope it will give him pause and think about how much time he actually spends chatting with me every day. He estimates 15 minutes a day, my guess is about 45 minutes on average.

I also had a good ESS club meeting. There were only three students today, and we had a really cold classroom to work in, but it was fun. I played a couple of games with them, and helped them with their homework. Ikuko, one of the members, was in my class earlier today and she looked sick or nervous. She wasn’t doing so well. I didn’t think she would make it to ESS but when she got there she was smiling and happy.

Tonight I had sushi, kimchee, and miso soup for dinner. It was quick and easy. Now I’m cleaning up around the house and trying to stay warm. Tomorrow is Friday already!

This morning I went running for the third time in a row, and I think I’ve found my limit. It was harder going this time, and I think I’ll take tomorrow off. Running three times a week seems like a reasonable goal to me.

At school I had just two classes, both in the afternoon, so my morning was free. I spent about half the time preparing for the two classes, since they are new lessons and I wanted them to go smoothly.

The history teacher made four visits in the morning to chat with me, and during one of the visits he told me about how he watched an Eddie Murphy movie last night called Boomerang. He was very excited because he was able to pick up some new moves on picking up women. He seemed eager to try them out. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that it was just a movie, and he was really pumped up. It was a scary thing.

My afternoon classes went really well, mainly thanks to my English teachers helping me. We worked together and the time flew by. The students are working on giving and receiving directions in English, and I think I’ve got them to the point where if you say go left they will go left with only the slightest hesitation.

After school I went over to Azusa’s for a lesson, and then after that went to try out a sushi restaurant near my house. Unfortunately, they were closed on Wednesdays. Instead I headed over to a new ramen restaurant, and it turned out that they were closed Wednesdays too. I ended up back at the yakitori, and the master was busy in there. We talked for just a bit, and he customized his regular yakisoba with some extra kimchee sauce. He knows that I like it spicy.

I’m back home now and getting ready to hit the sack. I’m looking forward to the weekend – I’m getting new glasses, and also going to a sake tasting on Sunday night.

Today I had no classes at school, just a meeting with the first year English teachers. I used my time to study all day, and put in a solid nine hours. I hope I learned something, it was a lot of time and I had a headache at the end of it.

In a stroke of good fortune, the history teacher didn’t come in until noon, so I had a distraction free morning. He more than made up for that by visiting and chatting throughout the afternoon.

For lunch I brought in a big sandwich that I made from the leftover beef, and with a couple of chipotle peppers stretch across the top it was a pretty scary looking sandwich. The other teachers walk by and watch with a sort of mortified fascination. Maybe it’s the carnivore noises I make when I eat. Grunt, grunt!

I came home and spent the evening doing anything but studying. I watched some downloaded TV, downloaded some new music, and cooked up a big pot of soup to eat for dinner.

Tomorrow I’ve got two classes in the afternoon, and it’s already getting to be the middle of the week. The weekend will be here before you know it.

I’m trying to get into a new morning schedule, where I get up early, go jogging, do some stretching and exercises, take a shower, have breakfast, study for about 30 minutes, and then go to work. Hopefully it’ll work out – it feels great to run around a little bit in the morning.

This week there are no classes for the second years and third years. The second years are on a school trip to Hokkaido, and the third years are taking final exams. That means that I only have seven classes out of eighteen this week. Three of those classes were today.

My students were full of energy on a Monday, and they did really well. Some had a little too much energy, but I just worked with my teachers to try to channel that energy in the right direction.

The history teacher came to visit me four times today. This morning he was waiting for me when I was walking to school and he said that he was super busy over the weekend working on an exam. He said that he had lots more to do. Every time he came to talk to me, I asked him how the exam was coming along. That seemed to keep our conversations shorter.

I had to cancel my lesson with my tutor because I needed to send a deposit via the ATM at the bank after school. This was the first time that I have done it on my own – doing it within Japan is a little tricky. There is no English screen – it’s all in Japanese. It ended up working OK (I hope), so I’ll call and confirm later but it looks like we’ve got plane tickets for America lined up.

Tonight for dinner I went meat crazy – I was shopping over at Ito Yokado and found a good deal on beef. I made up a big beef sandwich for dinner, and made another one for lunch tomorrow.

Kuniko and I slept in fairly late and then hit the showers. We went for a small breakfast in anticipation of a big sushi lunch. We’ve both been craving sushi lately, even though I just had it for dinner on Friday night.

Today we went into Himeji to do a couple of things. The first was for me to get new glasses. My old glasses had some kind of anti-scratch coating put on way back when, and now the coating is slowly disappearing, leaving the surface of the glass very cloudy. Also, I get a headache whenever I wear the glasses, so they must be tweaked out of adjustment. Definitely time for some new ones.

We went to a glasses shop, and they did a really interesting eye exam. I had to read Japanese characters, which isn’t always easy even when I am wearing my contacts. We went through the whole thing, and the result of the exam was that my vision is much more screwed up than anything they normally deal with. The end result was that they would have to take more than a week to make the lenses. Another down point was that because my vision is so bad, the lenses would be really thick. I was hoping that in the many years that have passed they would have invented something that was really, really thin. Nope.

Actually, they had several options, and one option would have reduced the size by 1 millimeter, but it would have cost me an extra 12,000 yen ($120). I’ll live with the extra millimeter.

I got some frames that are not my usual style. Here’s a picture:

I can’t wait for them to be ready – it should be next weekend. After getting the glasses we headed across the street to look for a sushi place. We found a strange looking place that was place that seemed to cater more to older people. Not really our scene, and the sushi was merely so-so. Still, it was warm and they served big ceramic cups of hot tea.

Our next stop was a place called the Royal Classic. We were there to look into a place to get married. We’re planning on getting hitched this year, and so we’re trying to get serious about nailing some stuff down.

In Japan, there aren’t a lot of churches around, because Christianity isn’t a very popular religion – Buddhism and Shinto are far more popular. Despite the lack of Christian churches, Western style weddings are really popular, and that’s the kind that Kuniko wants. Since there aren’t churches around, big places like the Royal Classic are built to serve that need. The place is like a giant wedding complex. It’s like a one-stop-shopping spot for getting married.

Unlike last time we didn’t sit down and eat food, but we did get to check the place out. They had several rooms for the actual ceremony, both Western and Japanese style. They also had different themed rooms for the reception afterwards. We got a kick out of walking through all the rooms.

They had a bridal salon where you could try on all kinds of dresses. Kuniko was really into trying something on, and I got roped into trying on a tuxedo. They snapped a few pictures, and here’s the result.

The experience was really interesting, and it drove home the idea that we’re really getting married. It wasn’t like a shocked feeling or a scared feeling – it just felt right.

We skipped the mock ceremony in favor of a walk back to the main part of Himeji. We wanted to meet up with Tamura sensei and Yuri, but we had some time to kill so we went to check out a hotel across from the station. It was having a bridal fair that day, and so we went inside. An old high school friend of Kuniko’s works there, and offered to walk us around even though we didn’t have an appointment or anything. She showed us around, and they had a pretty nice setup as well.

They tried to get us to eat there, but we wanted to catch dinner with Tamura sensei and Yuri, so we declined the 5000 yen lobster tail. Kuniko’s friend gave us all sorts of information about her hotel, and offered us a 10% discount on the bill. That was nice of her, so we’ve got another place to consider.

We met up with Tamura sensei and Yuri, who were in the area after attending some kind of ceremony.

We all went out to dinner at a Korean restaurant, and chatted. We’re hoping to get together and hit an ice skating rink at the end of next month. It’s been a long time since I’ve been skating, but I’m looking forward to it. I hope I don’t hurt myself too badly.

Finally they dropped us off back at the station and we went our separate ways from there. It’s getting more and more difficult to say goodbye to Kuniko at the end of the weekend.

Kuniko came into town on Saturday night, and we went over to the yakitori for dinner. This weekend is the yakitori’s fifth anniversary, so the master had a special going on – the first beer is 5 yen, and every one after that is only 100 yen. He had advertised it in several newspapers, and as we expected, he was super busy when we got there. We sat with a bunch of other regulars and watched all the new people stream in. The master is hoping that the money he loses on the beer over the weekend will be gained in new customers down the road. I hope it works out for him.

It was the first time in a long time that people got to chat with Kuniko, and we had a great time. They had all kinds of questions for Kuniko, and I did my best to follow along. We moved our large party into the private party room, and the master’s wife joined us now and then. She had brought their new baby, and we had lots of fun playing with the kids.

We came back from drinking all we could, and our bill was only around 2300 yen – $25 or so. That night we ate some chocolate cake that Kuniko had brought from Osaka – it was incredible. The cake was filled with a chocolate sauce. We heated up the cake, toasted the top for about 30 seconds, and then all the chocolate inside was melted and it gooped out when you cut in. Awesome!

Last night I met up with Struan in Akashi. I haven’t seen him in a long time, so it was good to catch up. We talked about what we had been doing over the holidays – and compared wild stories. Struan usually has some good stories.

I took him to the underground sushi restaurant that Komori sensei introduced me to, and it was pretty full – there was only one seat available. In accordance with standard dining practice, the guy that was closest to finishing wrapped up his bill and took off. We had to give him lots of “I’m so sorry” and “Thank you so much!” on his way out, and the master and his wife gave us lots of “We’re so sorry” because we had to wait just a little while. It’s an interesting ritual.

We sat down and were a little surprised to see that there was another foreigner in the place. He had a Japanese associate on either side, and I think he was probably here on business. He was having trouble with his chopsticks, but was trying all the food. I loved his expression when they told him what he was eating was eel. We smiled at them politely, but we stuck to talking with the master and the another guy on my right. He turned out to be the person who invited Mr. Komuri (and unknowingly, me) to a sake tasting in Akashi at the end of the month.

After a while the foreign guy asked us without preamble or introduction, “I suppose you guys are teachers, right?”

I don’t know what it was about the question – maybe the tone, maybe the “I know it all” expression on his face, or maybe just the situation, but it rubbed me slightly the wrong way. We were just trying to keep to ourselves, and let him enjoy this experience – he’s getting a real taste of Japan in this place.

Anyway, I looked over at him and his group and said “No, actually we’re strippers.”

Maybe it was the tone of my voice, or the expression on my face, but he didn’t ask us anymore questions.

Meanwhile the place was lively as usual, and we had some great sushi. The master was really nice and gave us some free samples of other sushi, and we had a good time. When it was time to go, he scribbled a number on a piece of paper and flashed it at us, and we settled up and left. There’s no price list in this place – it’s just what he decides to charge you. It’s always reasonable, though, and with a couple of beers we got out of there for 3000 yen, just about $30.

The next stop was Donkey for some darts. It was nice to see the gang there again. The master knew Struan as an occasional visitor, but he’d never seen him together with me, so it was funny to see that two of his foreign customers actually knew each other.

He played some darts, and I taught some simple games to Struan and we had a couple of Guinness – it was a nice time. Later in the evening a friend of the master’s wife came in, and the master’s wife (hereafter referred to by her Japanese title “Mommy”) tried to do some matchmaking. I talked a little bit with her friend, named Yoko, and she spoke a fair amount of English. Mommy looked very happy, but I was more interested in playing darts than chatting with Yoko.

Yoko eventually hit the road, and Mommy made sure that I knew she was leaving so I waved goodbye. Later, Mommy asked me if I had a girlfriend, and so the only polite thing to do was tell the truth. I told her that I did have a girlfriend, but I didn’t name names, and she said that I should bring her by sometime. I’m sure this information will eventually get back to Komori sensei, and subsequently back to Mr. Hayashi. I didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings though, and it was nice to tell the truth for once about that particular issue.

Meanwhile, Struan was chatting with a couple who spoke a surprising amount of English. They were buying bottle after bottle of wine, and Struan was speaking to them in both English and Japanese. Struan has studied a fair amount of Japanese, but lately he has stopped, and so it comes and it goes.

I had been speaking English to the couple, mainly because most people in Japan seem to want to speak English with me. The guy started giving me a hard time, saying that since I live in Japan I should learn Japanese. I just smiled and said I would do my best. Struan tried to tell him that my Japanese was quite good, but he wasn’t paying attention. He kept coming back to it, and I found it amusing, so I just kept responding in English.

Struan and I got a bottle of Chilean Pinot Noir that was really good. The price was great, too – only $18. The French wine has a big reputation around Japan, so it’s priced high regardless of quality. Wine from other countries aren’t as well known, so I can sometimes find great deals.

We played lots of darts – they made teams of people that came in, and Mommy and I were one team. We played against some other regulars, and we did pretty well. Mommy and I were both pretty toasted, though, and our high fives were getting more and more difficult to do.

It was finally time to get out of there and catch the last train. As we left we said goodbye to everyone, and one of the darts players was going to the same station, so she and I caught the same train. Struan lives close by, so he just walked back to his place.

It was a fun night, and now I’m typing this on Saturday morning with a bit of a hangover.

Thursday is an easy day for me – I really look forward to Thursdays. All of my classes are over by 11:30 a.m., and then I’m free to do whatever I want. In my first year class today I was having a conversation with a couple of the students before the class started. One student was trying to explain to me that another teacher had false teeth. I couldn’t understand her explanation in Japanese, so she went to get a dictionary, looked up the word, and then showed me the entry that read “false teeth”.

I pretended to look confused, and then look closely at her mouth and told her in Japanese, “They look real!”. Finally, a joke that worked! She and her friend literally fell on the floor laughing so hard. Mr. Oshita came in to help me teach the class and was wondering what the heck was going on with these two girls rolling around on the cold floor laughing hysterically.

Teachers have started to figure out that I have a cellphone now, and so I’ve been passing around my e-mail address as people ask for it. Mr. Hayashi has it now, so once he figures out how to save it, I should be getting messages from him now and then. That should be interesting.

After school Mr. Komuri gave me a ride home in his car, and we chatted in English on the way back. Next week he and the rest of the second year teachers will be going on a school trip to Hokkaido with all the second year students. He’s getting all packed and prepared. It sounds like they’ll have lots of fun.

Once I got home I assessed my refrigerator and decided to make some homemade ramen. The trick to good ramen is the broth. I’m still not sure how they do it, but this time I came pretty close. I didn’t have any meat to put in, so I dug around and found a couple of pieces of SPAM that I had leftover from the SPAM and eggs I made when Kuniko was here.

SPAM ramen. I’m sure somebody has done it before, but I felt truly transcontinental as I used chopsticks to slurp up the steaming noodles along with bite-sized chunks of SPAM. It was really good.

This post probably isn’t for the faint of heart.

In a strange concurrence of many different events, I’ve been hearing a lot of about sex lately, mainly related to high school students. The other day I received my monthly ALT newsletter (which is unauthorized by the government, by the way) and there was an anonymous article in there about a female ALT and her reactions to being a sex object to some of her students.

It was a fascinating read, especially since it was from the female perspective. Since it was anonymous she could go into a fair amount of detail. The point of the article was this:

It’s very natural when you teach so many students that some of them may develop a crush on you. She pointed out that it was quite normal to have a crush on a teacher when she was in high school. She discussed how she deals with it, how she felt about it, and how other ALT’s that she knew have dealt with it.

She mentioned some interesting things. Apparently the ultimate Japanese high school boy fantasy is to sleep with a female teacher. It is not rare for a teacher to marry a student after they graduate – usually it’s a male teacher-female student relationship.

I’ve met some students and some teachers that are involved in this kind of situation. It’s a dangerous game to play, and maybe that’s why they are doing it. Why does this go on? Kuniko and I had an interesting conversation about this, and I was a little surprised by this particular cultural difference.

For one thing, the ideas about acceptable age difference between two people in a relationship are very different here in Japan. It isn’t such a big deal for there to be a big gap in ages. Is it because one person is seen as the provider? I’m not sure. Ideas on this are generally pretty conservative, moving slowly in typical Japanese fashion over hundreds of years.

Most of the ALTs in Japan are younger than I. Most are only a few years older than their third year high school students. Also, some ALTs might not have a lot of real-world experience outside of college – and you just have to trust that they are making the right decisions.

I’ve had my share of students that have a crush on me – some I know about, and some I’m sure I don’t. Kuniko has also gotten lots of attention from students that she has taught. The interesting thing about the article was that it explored just a little into how that makes you feel. The author said that of course she would never date or return the affections of any of her students, she did tend to look forward to teaching his class, or felt a little thrill seeing them in the hallway. Another special factor in all of this is that foreign women here often aren’t seen as desirable by Japanese men, mainly because they are considered a little too “aggressive”. The author admitted that maybe the idea that there was somebody out there that DID find you attractive made you enjoy the attention that much more.

There’s lots of exceptions, and I’m just briefly addressing this, but it’s an interesting topic. If you asked me two weeks ago if this kind of thing happened in Japan, I’d say never. It’s a good illustration of much of this society is flying under my radar, and I’m sure there’s lots going on that I know nothing about.