Today we had no classes and instead went to the Takasago City Hall. There is a city amphitheater there – our students were going to watch a “cultural performance”. It’s called Rakugo, a cross between stand-up comedy and storytelling.

A long time ago people traveled from town to town, making a living by telling stories to anyone that would listen – kind of like a bard, I guess. This is considered an integral part of Japanese culture, and I was looking forward to checking it out.

We all entered and sat down, and after we were settled in, they started the show. The performer sits on a pillow on stage in front of a small lectern, and he wears a special outfit. At a certain points during his performance he raps a metal object against the table to emphasize a point, and it is loud enough to get your attention. Also, each performer at some point took off their outer jacket, and there was some symbolic meaning to this, although I’m not sure what.

I couldn’t follow their stories very well, because the Japanese was rapid fire and very colloquial. They also switched characters very quickly in mid-stream, so it was really tough. I was able to catch the drift of the story, and the personality of the characters from the tone of voice and the body mannerisms, but really I was just lost.

There was a magician that came on stage in between performers, and she played terrible 70’s disco music that was certain to have come from a 100 yen shop CD. It was terrible, really. Appalling in it’s mediocrity.

However, her show was quite good, and she had some good comic moments. She had one of our teachers come onstage, and played a few jokes on him.

The final performer is supposedly well known – he’s often on TV and some of the teachers were interested in seeing him. He did a very non-traditional performance – there were stage props, and he did a scary story instead of a funny story, which I guess is unusual. He did have a scary voice, and at one point somebody squirted blood on the paper wall behind him. Suddenly, a figure burst through and ran into the crowd, and the reactions of 500 screaming schoolgirls and maybe 100 screaming schoolboys was classic.

Afterwards, the main performer came up and accepted flowers from the school body president. He made a speech about following your dreams and doing what YOU want to do, not what people say you should do. Interesting.

The students overall seemed to enjoy it, if only for the chance to sleep in their seats in the dark for an hour or so. Even some of the teachers were sleeping – I was surprised at that. I couldn’t understand much at all but I was still awake. Some students were checking for my reactions, so I wanted to be a good example.

After the show I hit the road – arriving at home around 5 p.m. Today the post office was delivering a package, and they had said they would arrive between 7-9 p.m. I made a big Korean dinner of BBQ beef and rice, and I tried to make a Korean soup but I chickened out on all the salt that the recipe called for. That’s way too much – I don’t want to die at sodium poisoning.

Nine p.m. came and went, and still no sign of the post office. I gave up and went to bed around ten o’clock. How very un-Japanese to not show up.

I was rousted out of bed at 11:15 p.m. by the doorbell, and I stumbled in the dark to the door. There was a postal service guy there, and the first thing that came out of my mouth in Japanese was not “good evening”, or “oh, hello”, but “it’s late”. Not very polite – but then again I was still kind of asleep. Here’s this poor guy delivering my package after 11 p.m. and what thanks does he get? “It’s late!”

Anyway, I signed for the package and went straight to bed.

Today at school I continued my Christmas lessons. I’m having the students listen to “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer”. It’s all fun and Christmas-y, until the teacher translates the part about finding Grandma dead at the scene with hoofprints on her forehead. The students’ reactions vary from laughter to shock, and the teacher tells them not to worry – that it’s black humor. Still, it beats “Jingle Bells”.

A funny thing happened when the teacher today was translating. He got a little confused and asked me, “So did Grandpa kill Grandma?” and I told him, “No, no. What kind of Christmas song would that be? It was Santa!”

He just nodded and explained to the students. My sense of humor is rarely understood, no matter what country I’m in.

After school I met up with Keiko-san, and she took me over to the local coffee shop to have dinner with a bunch of her friends. They are an enthusiastic group of women that are really into studying English. I spoke with all of them in a group setting, and then did some one-on-one conversations. They really rely on my Japanese, though, and they are clearly relieved when the conversation switches to Japanese. I still feel the same way when I speak with my Monday tutor – I need to get out of the English habit and really just speak Japanese.

We had a good time, and the first group of women left around 7 p.m. The others asked me to stay a little longer, so we chatted for another half hour before I said that I had to go. It was a fun time – they are really nice people.

Tomorrow should be a relaxing evening, and I’m looking forward to it. It’s been a busy week for me. Jane invited me to join a group of her friends for a run to the Mexican restaurant in Kobe, but I’m leaning towards skipping it. Later I’m hoping to go to Kobe with Kuniko to see the Luminarias, so I want to wait it out.

After my lesson with Azusa this evening I stopped into a ramen shop for a big bowl of noodles. They drop in some sliced pork, and a couple of the slices were probably 70% fat. This is pretty common in noodle shops. There are a couple of shops that put better pork in there, and I try to stick to those. Still, it would rude to leave them behind, so I ate ’em. And they tasted great.

At school today the duel between Mr. Hayashi and Ms. Mori continued to rage. They had a confrontation during a meeting today, and Mr. Hayashi challenged some of the things that she had said. I think if I was at the meeting I probably wouldn’t have even noticed, but the other teachers were all talking about it, and Mr. Hayashi came by my desk to give me a blow by blow account of his verbal victory.

He gave me a lot of details, and some of the things they were arguing about involved me, but I didn’t ask for too much information – I don’t want to get involved.

Tomorrow night I’m going to join Keiko-san and her gang of English-speaking women for a dinner at the coffee shop. They’ve been dying to chat with me and so we’ve finally figured out a time to get together. It should be fun – they really enjoy talking.

Today was an easy day for me – no classes to teach. I did help out Mr. Hayashi, though. They have a budget every year to hire some guest speakers for each department, and he had made contact with a college professor originally from New York who has been living in Japan for the last 20 years. We drove over to his college to pick him up, and he was a really nice guy. He was actually one of the first people on the JET program when it started, so he had some interesting insight into what kinds of things have changed over the years.

He had asked that we set up in the computer lab, so preparations had been made, and the class showed up ready to hit the computers. We got them all ready, and then the professor introduced himself, gave the students a web address, and then waited for everyone to load it up.

The site that we went to was really interesting – it was created by Voice of America to encourage people to learn English. There were tons of lessons and activities for the students to play with. The professor just walked around and earned money – he was a smart guy. The students enjoyed the activities, but they slowed down after about 30 minutes, and I could tell they were getting a little bored by the time 50 minutes rolled around. Maybe if the professor talked a little more, or led them through an activity in English it would have been better. But I don’t want to be a backseat-teacher.

The principal and vice-principal were really enjoying it. They came in and the vice principal was snapping pictures for the yearbook. He had me posing in a couple of them – I was like “Oh my gosh, an adverb clause!”, and some other vaguely unnatural teaching positions. It’ll look good in the yearbook, though.

I was surprised how quickly the students took to the computers – they did a great job and had almost no trouble. If they had questions they would ask me in English, and so maybe just the change of scene was a big help.

After the lesson we went to the principal’s office for the ceremonial cup of hot tea and post-visit discussion. This is always interesting for me because you just go in there and sit and drink tea and pretend like you’ve not a care in the world. We talked in big bold terms about English education, but nothing groundbreaking. It was fun. Our visiting professor doesn’t speak much Japanese despite being here for 20 years, but I caught him understanding some complex Japanese, so he’s been learning something.

We finished up with the cup of tea, and then went outside the office to do the bowing and goodbyes. After that Mr. Hayashi drove us to a nearby cafe for lunch. Over lunch we talked a little about what life is like for a college professor in Japan. I’ve heard that it’s the English teacher’s nirvana – good money, less hours, stable job. I was interested to hear the scoop from him, and I got his contact information – he seemed happy to be able to tell me all about what he does.

I got trapped in an English teacher’s staff meeting later in the day. I knew it was trouble when they said it was only a 15 minute meeting, and then they postponed it until 15 minutes before I was going to leave. I had no pressing engagements since the master cancelled our dinner party, but if I did have the party I would have been screwed. I didn’t get out of there until 5:45 – what a boring meeting. We just talked about the students that were likely to fail this term. Luckily, none of my students are on the edge.

I got home tonight and spent some time with Kuniko on the phone. She’s doing well but a think she’s a little worried about her job situation. Both of our career futures are a little up in the air right now, so although we’d like to have something nailed down for the long term, right now it’s just the short term that’s taken care of.

A simple dinner tonight of spicy miso soup and rice. No alcoholic beverages for the first time in three nights. My body appreciates the detox time!

After school today I went over to Tsuji-san’s place for a Japanese lesson, and then went back to school to meet up with Mr. Hayashi. He was planning a get together at Amuse, and he didn’t invite a few people, so it was a delicate situation. I bumped into the history teacher as he was leaving, and I had to lie and say that I wasn’t sure where we were going.

Mr. Hayashi pulled into the parking lot a moment later with Ms. Yamamoto in the car, but I don’t think the history teacher saw them. I was thinking that it was a bad idea to go to Amuse since the history teacher often goes there anyway.

We picked up Mr. Komuri, and then the four of us went over to Amuse to do some eating and drinking. We talked and laughed – comparing stories about the end of the term and the next few weeks of “meaningless” classes. Mr. Komuri and Ms. Yamamoto teased me a little about the history teacher always visiting me to chat, and it was just about that time that the door opened and in he walked.

The history teacher went right to the bar and either didn’t see us or pretended not to. We nervously sat there waiting for him to see us, but since he didn’t look over, Mr. Hayashi decided not to attract his attention. I’m sure he could hear us talking and laughing in English, though. I guess he sensed that he wasn’t invited.

Finally the history teacher made a trip to the bathroom and gave us a big hello. He didn’t stop by, just kept on walking, and later said a quick goodbye when he was finished with his dinner.

We left shortly afterwards, having drunk six rounds of beers and endless plates of food. Mr. Komuri and I took the same train to Akashi, and we were the annoying loud drunk guys on the train. Mr. Komuri has a great laugh anyway, but add a lot of alcohol and the fact that we were speaking in English and we got a lot of attention. What the heck, it’s that time of year.

When I got home I snuck over to the yakitori to chat with the master. He had originally planned on bringing some friends over to my place for dinner tomorrow night, but when I got there he told me that some people had requested that he open up the place on his day off for an end of year party, and the money is too good to refuse. That gets me off the hook for drinking Tuesday night. My body could use the break.

It wasn’t until I got home and the thought of the history sitting at the bar alone eating dinner and listening to us laughing and carrying on really got to me. I felt bad for him – on one hand he’s got nobody to hang out with, and other people make specific requests that he not be invited to various events. That’s sad and I feel bad for him. On the other hand, it’s entirely within his power to change how people feel about him. A little introspection would do some good. It’ll be interesting to see how he acts in the future towards Mr. Hayashi and I.

Here’s more information and some pictures of the spooky buildings we visited last night. Kuniko did some research and found some new information. It’s a waste treatment facility!

Sometimes a day doesn’t go anything like you expected it to. Sometimes that’s a bad thing, but today it was a great thing.

Kuniko picked me up in her car a little after noon, and we hit the road. Originally we had thrown around the idea of going to Himeji and looking around there a little bit. Kuniko had other ideas, however. We decided to drive into Osaka and have some fun there.

A while back Kuniko had told me that at Universal Studios Japan they have the tallest Christmas tree in Japan. We decided to go check it out. We took our time getting there, and both of us went through our first drive-thru in Japan to get lunch.

Finally we arrived, and the place was packed. We parked so far away – it was a 15-20 minute walk just to get to the entrance. The good news was that they had a special for people showing up late in the day – a little over half price to get in. We took advantage of that and started walking around. Unfortunately, as soon as we got in it started to sprinkle. Also the lines were pretty long, with the longest wait time at 150 minutes.

But did we let it get us down? No! We bought a cheap umbrella, walked around people watching, did the Backdraft ride which was only a 20 minute wait, and finally wrapped up our visit with a trip to the tallest Christmas tree in Japan. They had a lighting ceremony at 5:45, and I’ll admit that it was very impressive. They had a Japanese boy band singing at the start of the ceremony, and the lights of the tree were timed with their song – it was pretty good.

I hadn’t planned well since I thought we’d be local. I didn’t bring my camera or my phone on this trip so I can only let you imagine the sight of the tallest Christmas tree in Japan.

We left the park around 6:30 or so, and went across the way to eat dinner at Bubba Gump’s Shrimp Company, a guilty favorite of mine from America. We ate big and the food was really good. We sat and enjoyed the seafood and the servers didn’t bug us too much like they tend to do in American Bubba Gump restaurants.

At one point a guy in a Santa Claus suit walked by outside, working the crowds and waving to everyone. This was a foreign guy like me, and I couldn’t help but wonder what career choices put him in a Santa suit in Japan this holiday season, and how close my career path might run to his. The guy stopped at the window outside our table and waved to us, and then smiled under his fake beard at me and pointed a finger pistol at me before being ushered off by his helper.

Filled with shrimp and all Gumped out, we made the long trek back to the car in the rain. Good news – only one umbrella, so it was a great way to stay close to each other on the way back.

Still feeling a little adventurous, we got in the car and drove across the bridge to a couple of big building complexes that we had noticed a couple of times in the past. The buildings from a distance look like part of a giant cartoon castle. It reminds me of modern art, Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, and Aladdin’s Castle all in one. Up close there was nothing to change that impression.

We both were kind of creeped out by the buildings, empty but lit up, strangely painted walls and towers built to look like half tree, half stone. I noticed a tree growing out of one of the windows on the side of the building. The signs in front of the building said that it was for a construction company, but it seemed like more than that. I can’t begin to do it justice by describing it – it’s surreal and is too big to be a joke.

Kuniko and I got out of there in a hurry and we headed back home. Kuniko dropped me off and went home, but then found my sunglasses in the car and drove all the way back here to give them to me. It gave me a chance to exchange gifts with her parents. I sent a bunch of cream and raisin filled pastries, and they sent back some chocolate, a homegrown radish and some shitake mushrooms, and a gigantic apple. Kuniko invited me to spend New Year’s Day with her family in Kakogawa. That should be a lot of fun.

I’m off to bed – I’ve got classes tomorrow on a strange schedule. I’m not sure how it works, but I guess I’ll figure it out when I get there!

Talk about taking it easy… I slept in this morning, fighting the effects from my partying last night. At around 11 in the morning a crew came in to clean out my drains – they were going room to room throughout the whole complex. If the guy felt like commenting on my appearance he hid it well. It probably smelled like a pub the morning after in here.

I spent most of my day studying, but I did manage to take in a movie and to take a nap. Now I’m feeling much better and I think I’ll be back in action tomorrow.

One of my old teachers from the YMCA class called and asked me out on Monday, and when I told her that I had other plans, she insisted on leaving her number with me. She called a couple of weeks after my classes ended, and I kind of pretended that I didn’t understand. Now she’s calling again – persistent! I’m going to have to figure out how to break the news to her delicately that I’m not interested. She speaks no English, but maybe I can drop some subtle hints in Japanese. Or maybe she won’t call again – even better.

Rico sent me a couple of boxes of egg nog chai from Amy’s Kitchen, and I had a couple of tall cold glasses while I was studying today. This is something I look forward to every year.

Well – I’m off to bed now – tomorrow I may go for a drive with Kuniko, but it’ll otherwise be a quiet day. I’m booked up next week with events, so the pace will pick up again soon.

Every year in December the school holds a year end party, called the Bonenkai. It literally means “forget the year party”. After school I went home to relax for a few hours before going into Akashi to meet Mr. Hayashi, Mr. Komuri, and Mr. Kimura. We went to a nearby izakaya for a little “front-loading”.

Mr. Hayashi was skipping the party but he wanted to hang out with us a little. We ordered the big beers – mugs the size of our heads. Mr. Komuri ordered a bunch of food and we talked, ate, and drank for almost an hour. One of the employees recognized Mr. Hayashi – he was a student from a few years back. Mr. Hayashi did a great job of talking to him and asking him lots of questions, but later told us that he didn’t remember the student at all. It did pay off, though, and the kid bought us a round of beers.

Mr. Hayashi loves to talk about his erectile dysfunction and as usual we talked about it tonight. He is taking some mysterious medicine – he paid some witch doctor almost $900 for three months worth of potency pills. Supposedly it helps with the synaptic connections between his spinal cord and his, well, you know.

We rolled out of there just a little late, and Mr. Hayashi paid for the whole thing. He then went off to Sannomiya to meet up with some friends. He doesn’t like going to the year-end party – it’s not really his scene.

The rest of us went on to Nishi-Akashi station and then made a short walk to the Castle Hotel. We got in there a little late for the speech – that’s too bad. They started serving food and the drinking began. After that it’s a bit of a blur, but I’ve got these pictures in my camera. Everyone was having lots of fun.

I remember winning a prize in bingo – but it was some kind of strange stuffed animal. I think it was called an “odor dog”. I left it on the table “accidentally” when I left. Mr. Maeda was drinking water and whiskey with me, and the vice principal told me I “drink like a horse”. At one point I left to use the restroom and Mr. Kimura was curled up on a chair outside the banquet hall.

Mr. Komuri and I took off after the fun ended there and went to Donkey in Akashi. The darts started flying and at one point we had every single person in the bar playing one giant game of baseball. I was a little off my game due to all the alcohol, but it was still lots of fun. They are a great group over there.

I managed to catch the last train to Higashi-Futami, and I made an ill-advised stop at the convenience store for some “I’m drunk and I want some snacks” snacks. I think I got fried chicken and some bread stuffed with ground beef and cheese.

Now’s the time to forget the last year and focus on the next one. Just as soon as the hangover and heartburn passes.

Thank God for microwave pork rinds.

I read today about the death of Dimebag Darrell during a show in Columbus, Ohio. You might be wondering, why do I care about that? Especially if his name is “Dimebag Darrell”. This guy was the guitarist in a band that I listen to occasionally, Pantera. With songs like “Good Friends And A Bottle Of Pills”, and “Fucking Hostile” they are my band of choice for headbanging.

There is a vague connection between Dimebag Darrell and myself. Back in my college days at Fresno State we piled into my friend Chuck’s pickup and made the two hour drive to Bakersfield to see Pantera and Skid Row at the Bakersfield Fairgrounds. There was a large group of us, and even a brave girl, Theresa, came along dressed like girls usually dressed at a concert like that in Bakersfield. Yeah, like that.

We went right down to the mosh pit for Pantera and were very close to the front of the stage. The show started and at some point somebody threw one of their shoes onto the stage, landing right in front of the guitarist. He looked down at the show, and then looked into the crowd, and right then I knew what was going to happen. He stepped back and kicked that shoe as hard as he could right at us. I ducked and the shoe smacked the poor guy behind me in the face. I looked back up at him but he was already moving on to the next song.

Today after getting home early I took a three hour nap, and then had a nice simple dinner of salad, salami and cheese. After dinner I went over to the bookstore and talked with my friend that works over there. She told me that she had been transferred to the Tokyo store, so next month she’ll be leaving. Bummer!

She was transferred, but I’ve heard from various people that’s really how you get fired. Imagine working a low paying job in San Diego, kind of like what I did at Barnes & Noble for a while. Then, the manager comes to you and says, “Guess what, you’ve been transferred to the Barnes & Noble in Eureka.”

I don’t imagine that many people would head north to Eureka – most would quit. That’s a nice non-confrontational way to get rid of somebody here in Japan. I hear in the big companies that they transfer you to overseas positions, which can be really disagreeable, and tough on families. I don’t know if I would prefer getting transferred hundreds of miles away or outright fired.

Tomorrow is the school’s year end party. I’m predicting total havoc since we will be front-loading before the party, doing all you can drink beer, wine and sake at the party, and then collecting the survivors for darts at Donkey after the party. Is there anything I can do now to prepare my body for the abuse tomorrow?

Mr. Hayashi offered to buy the gang lunch today since he did some translation work the other day. His pockets were jingling, and it was to our benefit. We went next door to the cafe and had a set lunch there. They have a great price – it only set him back about 500 yen a head.

We talked about the upcoming party next week. Lots of people aren’t going, but I think I convinced Mr. Komuri to go with me. In keeping with tradition, we’ll be meeting somewhere first to do some “front-loading”, and then head over. They always have long speeches at the beginning of these, so if we arrive with a good buzz we won’t mind as much sitting there staring at the beer. It’s a fine line to walk, but we’re professionals, here.

After lunch I went home to do chores and organize my place. I’ve sent off the last of my Xmas packages, so I had lots of boxes, wrapping paper, bubble wrap, and other debris laying around the living room. Now things are back in order. I did a little laundry, and started burning data to DVD with my new burner. It’s a relief to have backups now.

At around six I went over to Azusa’s place to do some English conversation lessons, and as usual her mother fixed me a big cup of coffee for the long walk home in the cold. As a bonus she put out a bunch of sandwiches – six of them – for me to eat. I only ate one, but the hospitality seems to go up a notch each time. Next week is our last lesson before Christmas, so I need to think of something fun to do.

When I got home I cooked up some rice and shrimp with Korean sauce and green onions. It turned out delicious.

Lately I’ve been feeling a little out of whack. Usually I walk around with a smile on my face, but recently I have to remember to smile. Last year for two days I was in a blue funk and found myself locked in my house feeling like crap for no apparent reason. I’m wondering if this is another episode coming up. This week was supposed to be all fun and games after the completion of my test, but my attitude hasn’t really matched it. I guess I just need to catch up on my sleep and be a little more social. Friday’s big party should be a good way to do that.

After work today Mr. Kimura and I took a trip to Den Den Town in Osaka. It’s kind of the center off all things geeky – the high tech area of Osaka. Walking through there was kind of like how I expected Japan to be before I got here – lots of computers, software, video games, porn shops, toy stores, all concentrated into a huge area of Osaka.

We took the JR Loop Line to the southernmost part, Shinimamiya station. From there we walked north for about ten minutes to get to the southern gate of Den Den Town. The name Den Den Town comes from the Japanese word from electronics/electricity – Denki. This place earned it’s name.

I was glad that I had Mr. Kimura around to steer me in the right direction. He pointed to shops where he had found good deals in the past, and sometimes led me away from stores that were overpriced. He and I compared prices on DVD Burners, and after comparing amongst seven or eight stores, we decided on this one. We picked it up for about 15500 yen, roughly $160. That’s $50 less than the lowest price I could find on the internet.

Another cool place I found was a toy store, just a tiny place that was lined with glass cases filled with famous Japanese toys. I recognized lots of toys from my childhood – some from back when I first moved to Glen Ellen. They had every Transformer robot since the beginning of the series. I asked the guy if I could take some pictures but he said “no way”. It was like a shrine to toys, and Mr. Kimura and I were both walking through “oohhing” and “aaahhhing”.

We gathered up our stuff and headed out, catching the train back to Umeda. On the ride back I was telling Mr. Kimura that I’m just not geeky enough to take advantage of all Japan has to offer. Maybe it’s a good thing that I’m not dropping money on lots of toys from my childhood, but sometimes I think of all the people I know back home who are crazy about comics and toys from Japan. If that’s you, come out and visit me and do some shopping.

Mr. Kimura caught the next train back home, but since I was in Osaka already, I sent a message to Kuniko and then dropped by her place. She had dinner on the stove, and it looked great! It was called Jaganiku (I think), literally “meat and potatoes”. They tasted excellent and with a little rice and a bowl of miso soup it was a real feast. Kuniko said that it was completely different from how it is supposed to taste, but since I’ve never tried the original, it tasted great to me.

At around 8:30 I went out to Shin-Osaka and caught a train home. I’m now able to sleep on the train and not miss my stop. It’s like slipping into a trance – you’re not really asleep, but it feels good to rest your eyes and also to think about the plan of attack for the days ahead. I was zoning out all the way to Akashi, and then again on the train ride to Nishi Futami.

I hooked up the DVD Burner when I got home and it powered up just fine. Tomorrow I’ll try to burn a couple DVDs and see what happens.

I left my flashcards at home and went in today to work to sit around and read a book for pleasure. I’ve got easy days ahead this week, so I’m taking advantage to relax a bit from the studying. People were a little shocked to see me doing something other than studying, which may be a good thing.

Mr. Hayashi got me out of there by 11:30, and I was home preparing packages to send out this week. I made two trips to Ito Yokado to get tape and wrapping paper, and now I’m finally finished packing everything up. I hope it survives the trip!

Tomorrow I’m heading into Osaka with Mr. Kimura after school – I’m shopping for some hardware for my computer – a new DVD burner. I’ve been fearing for the data on my computer, and some judicious backing up would be a really good idea. If I get a chance I’ll try to visit Kuniko on the way home, if I can make up a good excuse to part ways with Mr. Kimura on the return trip.

Despite having almost half a day off I’m inexplicably tired, so I’m going to go to bed early tonight. Maybe I’m catching a bug, I don’t know.

I’ll spare you the boring post for Saturday – just cramming vocabulary into my head and reviewing piles and piles of flashcards. Kuniko came through on her way to party in Takasago, and a few hours later came back with some rum raisin ice cream for us to share and a bottle of Bailey’s Irish Cream. Now my cold weather bar is complete!

We had the ice cream with some Bailey’s and then we hit the rack.

I was up early the next morning for a quick breakfast with Kuniko and then I left her to meet Yuri at Sannomiya station in Kobe. From there we went on to Konan University, the site of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. It was easy to find – there was a steady stream of foreigners heading that way.

They were very serious about the exam, with yellow cards, red cards, long explanations of the instructions, and of course everything was in Japanese. It was split into three parts – kanji and vocabulary, listening, and reading comprehension and grammar. I think that I did adequately on everything but the listening – that one was flat out tough. I need to find a way to practice listening more.

The results come back in the middle of February, and some people I was talking with theorized that they don’t want to ruin your holidays with a failing grade. I’ll just have to wait and see!

Yuri was taking the first level test – the highest one that they have. She has some Japanese heritage though, and she speaks great Japanese. I waited up for her to finish her somewhat longer exam, and then we went back to Sannomiya to meet up with Kuniko and Tamura sensei, who were shopping and having fun.

We met up and got dinner at Pastel, a pretty good Italian place. The food tasted great and wasn’t too expensive. We all got out of there for about $40. After that we walked over to the movie theater, but before we went up there was a boy band playing in front of the shopping center. They were lip-synching to their CD and they had people circulating in the crowd passing out flyers.

Upstairs we say “The Incredibles”, which for some reason is called “Mr. Incredible” here in Japan. My quick review is that it was right up my alley – great movie with so many salutes to my favorite movies – James Bond, Indiana Jones, Star Wars. I highly recommend it.

Now I’m back home and getting ready for bed. I’m giving myself five days off from hardcore Japanese study. I’m going to continue to memorize kanji (I’m up to four a day now) but other than that, relax and recharge.