Last night after work I met up with Bill at the tachinomi for a couple of drinks before heading home. He’s an inspector at the factory where I am working – checking to make sure that the equipment that they make meets the standards of the contract. He’s also a great guy to hang out with, and he’s got some good perspective on a lot of issues both inside and outside Japan. We had a good time chatting and drinking at the “Tach”.

One of the things he mentioned was that he is looking to bump up his Japanese speaking skills. Unfortunately he doesn’t have a lot of free time to put towards studying so he was looking for some pointers on how to step it up a notch. Without study time it is pretty tough, but I suggested a textbook and hopefully he can persuade people around him to speak more Japanese to him.

This being Friday Kuniko and I decided to meet after work at Swaad. Hopefully we’ll be able to get a table. Recently we’ve been raving about the place to just about everyone we know, in the hopes that business will continue to be good for them and we can continue to be able to eat delicious Indian food just a few minutes walk from our house. Tomorrow I’ll go hiking with Yoshi (weather permitting) and then Sunday is a little unclear. We may go to Kyoto, we may rest up around our house.

But before the weekend I’ve got to knock out Friday’s classes, and do some heavy lesson planning afterwards. It’ll be a busy day in the office I think.

Last night we cooked up our first batch of somen noodles of the year. There is nothing that brings to mind the sweat and heat of a Japanese summer like ice cold somen noodles dipped in tsuyu and onions. I guess the sounds of cicadas are just around the corner.

I recently ordered a really good digital book called “Anaheim Vacationland”, which outlines in detail the hotels/motels and motor lodges that sprang up around Disneyland back when it first opened. The pictures and postcards are great, and especially good is the promotional text in the advertisements, bragging about “free Hi-Fi” and “color televisions in almost every room”. The “Inn of Tomorrow” was an especially fond memory of my childhood. We never stayed there as far as I can remember, but seeing the strangely lit exterior is a memory I can recall clearly to this day. The book is great, and I was able to download it to my iPad through the Kindle application. I’m on a bit of a Googie kick recently, I guess.

Tonight after work I’m going to catch a couple beers at the “tach” with some of the inspectors before heading home. Kuniko is at baking class tonight, so it’ll be a quiet evening around Casa de Fredricks.

A nice day yesterday looks to be sandwiched between some more rain – today is supposed to be rainy all day. Luckily the heat and the rain make little difference to me now that I’m going tie-less. Yesterday not one person said a thing about cheating on Cool Biz, but maybe that is because most people at work wear uniforms.

This month has a couple of small events. This weekend we’re thinking about taking a trip into Kyoto to see a model railroad exhibition and also to try a wine bar (called “Opus One”) that one of my students recommended. The week after that I’m taking an extra day off to go into Osaka and sort out our visas for the trip to India in August. Towards the middle of the month we’ll head over to the official housewarming party for Mr. Tojo. The end of the month is pretty open, so we’re thinking about having a BBQ party at our place, but we haven’t really put together a guest list yet. A lot of stuff to look forward to!

Today is the last day of May, and that means that from tomorrow we move into “Cool Biz” season. That means that it is officially OK to stop wearing a tie to work, and save money on air conditioning fees. It is a constant source of amusement to me that this rule is implemented regardless of the temperature outside – if the globe continues to heat up over the next 50 years there will still be people waiting until June to lose the necktie. Change happens slowly around here.

But today I am going to work without the tie, in the tiniest act of rebellion ever. I’m doubting that anyone will really care, though. Just an experiment – we’ll see how it pans out.

Yesterday despite the early morning rain warning students were going to school, and Kuniko had to teach yesterday. I guess there is a last minute check that everyone does, and at the last minute they changed their minds and kids were required to go to school. They made the right call, though – yesterday was a much nicer day.

Friday night I had a good time after work, hitting Osho for take-out Chinese food, and then later heading over to Red Spanky for some cocktails. I had a chance to meet some new friendly people over there, and we exchanged facebook info so that we can keep in touch later. Afterwards I went home pretty late, and crashed out.

Saturday the oncoming typhoon was all over the news, but there was little effect other than a constant downpour of rain. I spent most of the day sleeping, cleaning house, and relaxing before heading to the airport to meet Kuniko in the evening. I took the bus to the airport, and waited with some other teachers and lots of parents in the lobby of Itami airport.

The plane arrived on time, and after the last speech was made, and after the last student’s mother took her home, we were free to go. It was good to see Kuniko – she looked tired but happy that the trip went so well. Apparently it went without a hitch – and so it was more like a vacation than work. A vacation that you get paid for, not the other way around.

We grabbed a quick meal at a Japanese restaurant in the airport (sushi and zarusoba) and then caught a bus back to Sannomiya and a train from there to our place. Then it was unpacking time and we called it a night soon afterwards.

Sunday the typhoon officially arrived, and we sat it out inside our house. The typhoon actually fizzled out before it hit us, and it was more like a big storm – lots of rain and wind. Every few minutes a big gust of wind would come up and blow water all over the place, but other than that it was pretty mild. We were inside polishing off champagne and eating “salmon candy” from The Fishery. We also dug into some cheeses that Kuniko brought back – a hot pepper infused feta and goat cheese with black pepper. Yum.

Now it’s Monday morning, and outside it is still blowing hard. We’re off to work, but because of a weather warning it looks like Kuniko won’t have any students today. It’s very nice that she’ll enjoy a gradual return to teaching…

The end of the week is here! I’ve got a light schedule today, and then I’m off for the weekend. On Friday I have a class period to myself to work on paperwork and followup on the week’s classes, which means a little bit of an easier day. After work, I decided to head back home and get some Chinese take-out for dinner instead of ripping it up in Sannomiya. One of my ex-students went to the wine bar on Wednesday night and gave me a positive review, and just hearing about the place whet my appetite to go back. But I’ll hold off and wait until I can bring some friends along.

Kuniko is on schedule to come back tomorrow evening, and so that means I’ve got to do some last minute preparations to make her homecoming as comfortable as possible. Doing laundry, stocking the fridge with sparkling wine, cleaning the bathtub. Sunday should be a slow, relaxing day for both of us.

OK, I’m off to wrap up this week and then gorge myself on garlic for dinner.

Not a lot going on today and not a lot planned tonight. This is the wild bachelor life I’m leading, I guess. I had considered going nuts tomorrow night and going into Sannomiya to drink (alone) at Bar Mar, and then go have some wine at our favorite wine bar, but I’m leaning towards Chinese food at home.

This week I’ve been watching some TV once I get home – some Japanese, and some downloaded shows. I’m all caught up with just about everything from overseas, though. I’ve also been listening to a lot of new music – jazz, reggae, and rock. Lots of good tunes – I just need more time to listen is all.

Tonight I’ve got to get home to receive a package that will arrive, so no time to linger around at work. Let’s hope my students don’t decide to visit after classes today…

Today at work is “no overtime day”. That means that all the workers that usually work until 10 pm are required to leave by 5 or 6 pm. That’s right – they are forced to go home and be with their families. I think it is great, and the employees also seem to like the system. The only problem is that their workload is so much that it is a very stressful day for them to finish up before 5 pm.

What this means for me is that I almost never have any students coming in after my classes end for “office hours”. So I’m guessing I’ll be home early tonight. Last night I made Thai fried rice with red, orange and yellow peppers. Tonight, I have no idea what I’m going to make. When you are the only one eating the sky is really the limit. I’ll probably spend an hour or so all together today thinking about what to make. These are the stresses in my life.

I’m leaving my jacket and umbrella at home and going to work in the sunshine today. Looking forward to some good weather for a change.

It has been raining continuously for the last 30 hours or so. Ugh. Last night I walked home with my umbrella and still managed to get soaked, because of the brutal combination of heavy winds and rain. The forecast says that this afternoon should be back to clear and warm, but it has been wet and cold for the past couple of days. I guess I should count my blessings that I’m not sweating. Just a few days ago I was considering short sleeves.

Classes are going well at work and the students are starting to wake up from their weekends and remember English. I’m hoping that after carrying a lot of conversations for the students I can start shifting more of the burden on to them in the next few weeks. Some of the students are ready for it, but they still wait for me to direct the conversations. Part of this may be a confidence issue, but part of it is the deeply ingrained notion here that students listen and teachers speak.

OK, I’ve made my lunch and now I’m off to try to get to the train station without getting too wet…

I was on my own this weekend, and as you might expect it was a very low key couple of days. Friday night after work I came home to do a TV marathon, finishing up Survivor and the Amazing Race, while eating Chinese food and drinking beer. It was a late night, but I managed to see the endings of both shows without being spoiled by reading something on the internet.

Saturday was just relaxing at home – reading, drinking and BBQ, and then yesterday I went into Amagasaki to see a concert. One of my students plays the oboe, and his orchestra was doing a performance of Gustav Mahler’s symphony no. 9. I got to Amagasaki a little early, so I grabbed a coffee across the street before the performance. The venue was actually pretty nice, and there were a surprising amount of people attending. The orchestra itself was quite big – more than a hundred musicians – and they sounded great. It has been a while since I’ve seen an orchestra play live, and I had forgotten how clean and clear it sounds.

After a few warm up tunes they started the symphony, which lasted about 80 minutes. There were four movements, but no breaks between the movements, so I think some people might have been a little uncomfortable. Luckily I had only one coffee before the show. As for the music, it was all over the board – slow at some points and lively at others, and it seemed like just about every instrument they could find was included. I even got to see my student do sort of a solo, which was great, since otherwise it would have been near impossible to pick his sound out of all the other instruments playing.

When the show completed I headed home, but stopped in at Swaad for some curry for dinner. I barely got in – they were pretty busy in there, and there were even two Indian guys eating there. That is certainly a good sign. The cook came out and said hello to me with a smile, and as they have done in the past he gave me a free lassi to wrap up my meal. It was delicious – as usual.

Now it’s time to get back to work. It’s a rainy day today, and I’m not looking forward to going out in it…

Today Kuniko is off to Canada, and I’m off to work. Kuniko is all packed up and ready to go, and her suitcase is immaculate. It is unbelievable the packing skills that she has. When I pack I err on the side of protection rather than wrinkles, but she manages to do it all with the aid of plastic bags, straps, and folding skills. This afternoon the group will fly to Narita airport, and then change plans and fly to Vancouver from there. It’ll be quiet around here!

Although I haven’t really come up with much of a schedule for this weekend, I do have one plan – I’m going to see a student of mine perform as part of an orchestra in Amagasaki. He plays oboe in a rather large orchestra, and he offered me a free ticket to go see the performance. So if nothing else, I’ll get a little culture this weekend. I also have to catch up on a lot of TV, so it may be a pretty low key weekend.

This week Kuniko has a lot of extra time off during the afternoons while her students work on tests. For teachers the testing times are the actually the easier times – once their students take their tests it is just a matter of marking. Last night Kuniko finished marking, so she’ll have an easier time of it before her trip.

Last night we had some free time so we went off to do a bit of shopping at Vivre, bumping into Mr. Tojo along the way. He was getting ready to go to Jonetsu Horumon – a restaurant near our neighborhood that specializes in selling pieces of meat that are considered trash in the USA. Intestine, cheek, the base of the tongue – all this kind of stuff is grilled like yakiniku. Kuniko and I have consistently held the position that if we’re going to go out to eat meat, we can spend a little extra and eat the real stuff. Later Mr. Tojo sent me a mail saying that the restaurant was indeed not worth a visit. At least the beer was cheap.

So after about a month of reading I’m now completely up to speed with R. R. Martin’s Song of Fire and Ice series. I haven’t inhaled books like this since I decided to read through Robert B. Parker’s Spenser series years ago. Martin writes big monsters of books that take several years to write, so after the newest one comes out in July it’ll be a long time before I see another one. Probably I’ll go back and read the series again in the future – they are full of enough detail that it would certainly be worth re-reading.

Last night Kuniko arrived home well before I did, so she cooked “nikujaga” without the “niku” – potato, onion and carrots cooked in the rice cooker with a slightly sweet savory sauce. Yum. We used to make this dish on the stove, but the rice cooker really gets the vegetables tender and full of flavor, and in record time, too. We’ve been eating (and drinking) healthy recently, and a it is going a long way to getting rid of all the weight I probably gained during the Golden Week of wine and tacos.

Today is recycling day, so we’ve got to move all those empty wine bottles, champagne bottles, beer bottles and beer cans out to the curb at the end of our street. We missed the last recycling day two weeks ago, so we had an incredible amount to take out. Luckily Kuniko was driving to work today so we could throw the bottles into the back of her car.

Yesterday I had a full schedule of classes, plus another student came in for some discussion during my “office hours” at the end of the day. That meant I was working with students all day with just an hour break for lunch, and so I came home pretty tired at the end of the day. I put together a quick dinner of avocado toast (with a layer of prosciutto for flair) and Kuniko and I spent the evening talking about her work and listening to music.

When we listen to music at home, I’ve got our computer set to send all the stats to Last.FM. You can see the profile page here. It’s kind of cool to see what we were listening to last week, last month, and the last six months. When I haven’t been listening to music I’ve been reading – the R.R. Martin books are hard to put down. I should finish up with them this week, and then I’ll be caught up with the rest of the world waiting for the new one coming out in July.

Off to work – just two more weeks of wearing a necktie and then Cool Biz kicks in and I can enjoy cool collars again.

Friday night I went out after work with Mr. Minamimoto, Nao Yoshida and Shu Yoshida for dinner and drinks in Sannomiya. It was the first time going out with these guys since the infamous dating party, and it was fun to hang out with them again. Really nice people, and everyone has a good sense of humor. Our first restaurant was a yakitori place called 鶏貴族 (torikizoku – chicken royal family!) They served up some pretty atrocious chicken on sticks, and so we made it a priority to get out of there ASAP.

We ended up at Hola Achaho afterwards, and had some more dinner and a whole lot of wine by the glass. They were having a California wine by the glass promotion, and so we took advantage. They had Gnarly Head Zinfandel and Cline Viognier among others. Yum.

Saturday Kuniko had to work so I walked out and sat on the beach. It was a beautiful day, and walking around in the surf felt really good. The water was clear enough to see the shells just under the surface, and there were even surfers trying to catch the meager waves available. After an hour on the beach and in the sun I finished up my walk by heading to Akashi for a little bit of shopping. That night I fired up the BBQ and we had chicken, grilled onions and corn with black pepper and Cholula sauce.

Sunday was a day off for both of us, so we hiked this time to Nafco up on the top of the hill. It’s about an hour’s hike one way, and after buying some coriander seeds we came back and I went to work planting the seeds in planters in our front yard. We can’t get enough cilantro around here, and I’m hoping that in a couple of weeks we’ll be able to see some green coming out of the ground.

Last night Kuniko made ratatouille once again. We were trying to get rid of some carrots, and ended up with an all veggie dish that was really tasty. We finished the night off with some Hawaiian cookies that we received as souvenirs from Fukumi-san, who just got back from a few days in Honolulu.

All in all a great, relaxing weekend. This is Kuniko’s last week before she leaves for Canada for a school trip – it’ll be packing time soon.