Today is a national holiday in Japan – and due to a scheduling quirk the factory is in full operation. That means that I’ll go in to work while the rest of the nation sleeps in and gets started on a three day weekend.

But I’ll get the last laugh – after today I start seventeen days off, making it a nice wrap up to 2011. During the break we’ll sneak off to Cambodia and Thailand, and I’ll spend a lot of time recharging my batteries, reading and catching up on lots of stuff I haven’t been able to do because of a busy schedule at work.

So that’s nice.

I probably won’t be blogging so much during the break, but I’ll post now and then on Facebook, and depending on internet access in Cambodia and Thailand I’ll try a few posts there. Otherwise, I should be back to regular blogging on January 10th, 2012.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Last night after work I had expected to go home and find Kuniko relaxing at home. She had a schedule that put her back at home early, with plenty of time to relax and enjoy a little time off. Unfortunately, her schedule didn’t work out that way, and the way the trains worked out we were standing on the same platform waiting for a rapid train from Hyogo station. Instead of shivering in the cold waiting for the train, we decided to kill an hour at the local tachinomi. This is the same place that I visit occasionally with the inspectors from the factory, so the staff know me pretty well. It was the first time to see me with my wife, however.

We were killing an hour because I had heard that a local restaurant served pretty good hamburgers, and that restaurant wasn’t quite open yet. After an hour of talking and drinking at the tachinomi, we headed over to the Burst Cafe for a burger. The place was decorated like a 50’s diner, except a lot darker. Very interesting decor. On one side of the room were two electronic darts machines, and on the other side was a wall of video screens scavenged from pachinko machines. They were rigged to work automatically without all the flying metal balls, and they made for an interesting background.

We sat at the bar, and ordered burgers and a couple of tacos, and drank some beer while we waited. The owner was a nice guy who knew the inspectors from the factory as well, so we had a good conversation. The burgers came and we dug in. They broke all of my rules for burgers, but despite that were pretty good. The bun was an English muffin, I think the muffin might have had butter on it, but despite that the taste of the burgers was excellent. We easily polished them off and then turned to the tacos, which were decent except for the sweet salsa spread on top.

All in all, it was a good place to eat and drink near the Hyogo station – I’ll definitely try to drop by in the future. Too bad they don’t open until 7 pm…

Yesterday I made my acting debut at Kawasaki, co-starring with another foreign dude in a short in-house video as the “foreign customers”. There was no sound, only video, but it was very professionally done. I’m glad I didn’t have to wear make-up. Since it is for customers, trainees, and visitors it is unlikely that I’ll ever see it, but it was fun to do. We pointed at some things, discussed other things, and tried to act natural in a very unnatural environment. The director was a very artistic guy who seemed a little underwhelmed with his talent pool, but I think it came out OK in the end.

We’re already halfway through the week – I can’t believe how fast it is going. I think most of the partying is complete – just one last one with Kuniko’s family on Christmas. I think I can relax at home for the next four days, too. It’s turning out to be a stress-free holiday so far…

Well, the big news yesterday was the announcement of the death of Kim Jon Il, who always made life in this part of Asia a little uneasy. It is a mysterious place, North Korea, and every so often when they feel lonesome they fire off a missile over Japan or detonate a nuclear explosion.

So now that he’s gone, everyone is wondering what’s next. My students all seemed to have a different idea of what to expect in the future. Some think that there will be a power vacuum attracting some of Kim Jon Il’s older sons to the top of the heap. Others felt that the youngest son will be able to keep control, but will have to do something spectacular to show he is a strong leader. Still others felt like the military would control things from behind the scenes.

It’s like a soap opera with nuclear weapons.

I think we’ll just go about our business around here and keep one eye on the TV for the next few months. Hopefully nothing dramatic will happen.

Last Saturday night we had a great night over at the Yamaji’s place. They had invited us over along with the Fukumi’s for dinner and drinks for the holidays. Their kids were both there, and during the evening their daughter told us she had set a wedding date with her fiance, for October 21st, 2012 in Tokyo. They invited us to attend, so we’ll head out to Tokyo for the wedding late next year. Should be fun!

For dinner they served roasted chicken – and it was really good. I think I could have eaten an entire one myself. We spent a nice evening over there – we didn’t end up leaving until after midnight, and I think everyone was pretty drunk.

Yesterday we walked off our hangovers, spending a couple hours walking along the coast south towards Akashi. The weather this weekend was really nice, too. I’m glad that we could take advantage of it and get some outdoor time.

I was looking at the calendar and I realized that after this week I’ll have 17 days off in a row. We’ll fill that time with a trip, and maybe some family activities around here, but it still seems amazing. Most Japanese workers rarely see seven days off in a row. I think I should keep the length of my holiday under my hat at work. At least for the time being.

There are not a lot of smiles in daily life in Japan. On my commute from home to work and back I see probably about two smiles on average. That isn’t very much considering how many people I pass during my commute. What’s with all the grumpy faces?

Whether it is the samurai spirit, or just the grim reality of overworking every day of your life, I’ve previously observed the lack of mirth. The exception is once the alcohol starts flowing after work is over, and occasionally during the weekends when there is no work in sight. Otherwise, hide your smiles and be serious!

I’m doing my best to keep the frowns at bay, but how long will I last surrounded by 127 million people who don’t smile during the day? Luckily at home Kuniko and I are always joking around, and I do my best during my classes to get the smiles coming. It’ll be interesting to see if I can keep it going ten years from now…

Anyway, put a smile in your day and enjoy it – there are entire countries out there where a smile (at work) is a rare thing.

I had an interesting party last night after work with three other people I know from the factory. Each person is really fun to talk to, and we have been drinking several times with other groups. Last night was the first time to bring together all of us. And it was a little awkward. I’m not sure why – maybe a language barrier, maybe everyone was tired – but it wasn’t exactly smooth. Maybe it will take another meetup in the future to really get comfortable.

The place was interesting enough. North of Hyogo station on a side street, it was kind of a blue-collar seafood izakaya, with low prices and high speed delivery. The food was better than the usual fare at izakayas, too. It’s the kind of place I rarely visit, but it really has the feeling of “this is Japan”… what my friend Antoine would call a proletarian joint.

We wrapped up on the early side since it was still the middle of the week, and on the way home one of the guys pointed out a place across the street with “the best burgers in Japan”. That got my attention really quick, and I’m already trying to arrange my schedule so I can go try it out.

Last night we both got home at a reasonable hour, so it was nice to work on leftovers and have a slow evening after the drink-a-thon on Monday night. We took a bath together and then crashed out early – about 9:30 pm.

Today after work I’m going to meet up with some ex-students and have some beers. The month of parties continues… We’re planning on sticking around Hyogo station tonight, and we’ll be drinking with one of the inspectors. He’s involved with the latest project that they are working on, so it should be interesting to talk a little work with our beer. Those guys are into the technical side, while I’m reduced to asking simple layman questions. Still, interesting for me.

Kind of weird – we ordered some wine online for a party this weekend, and when it arrived the bottles were wrapped with the Sonoma County Gazette, which I’m not familiar with but it appears to be some kind of free local newspaper. How it got all the way to Japan is beyond me, but it was fun to read through the news from six months ago. With columns like “Meanwhile in Graton…” and “Geyserville Grapevine” it reminds me of the “It’s News in Glen Ellen” column in the Sonoma I-T. Good memories!

Last night Kuniko hosted a party at home for her coworkers. It was the second time for me to meet most of the coworkers, but the first time to meet one new coworker. He turned out to be kind of a crazy guy but it was fun to hang out with everybody and now we’re both pretty tired. That’ll teach us to have a party on a weeknight. Luckily Kuniko can get off a little bit early today so she can finish cleaning up the house this afternoon.

By the way I updated this homepage completely by voice. I used the WordPress application on my iPhone and it can recognize voice and convert it to text. It’s not perfect and sometimes I have to edit small errors but it still saves a lot of time. I definitely wouldn’t want to do it on a quiet train on my way to work however.

Okay I’m outta here!

The temperature is continuing to drop, with the added bonus of a little bit of rain yesterday. Today it is windy, and next week has even colder temperatures in the forecast. It might be time to bust out the electric blanket.

Kuniko and I will be a little busy with parties this weekend. Tonight I’ll go drinking with a couple of my irregular drinking buddies – one is an ex-student and one is a current one. They’ve got a interesting chemistry when they are together, and it is kind of like drinking with a couple of deadpan comedians. Usually we switch between English and Japanese which makes it good for my speaking and listening practice as well.

Tomorrow Kuniko invited me to join her in walking through the Kobe Luminaries. They light up the streets and people line up for hours to walk through and take lots of pictures. It’s considered pretty romantic, but I always knock it for the time it takes to get through the line. I’m putting my cynicism behind me tomorrow, and we’ll go out and enjoy it. I think we’ll hit a bar before to fortify ourselves for a long wait in the cold.

Yesterday during one of my classes a student showed me pictures from his recent wedding. He got married in the Shinto style, and the ceremony itself is only attended by family members. That means that I have a very, very small chance of ever seeing the ceremony myself. He showed me in pictures every step of the relatively short ceremony, and described it all in English, which I thought was particularly impressive. He and his bride both looked very happy, and the shot of their wedding cake had to be seen to be believed.

We’re already approaching the weekend, and it should be a pretty busy one for Kuniko – she’s got two parties this weekend, and I have only one. Recently the holiday invitations have ramped up, and it looks like I have six more parties before the end of the year. I hope my liver (and my wallet) can handle it.

After a conversation with one of my ex-students I’ve got an assignment that I have to work on for the next couple of weeks. Kind of a like a homework assignment for the teacher. It should be a little difficult to do the research that he requested, but I think it will end up helping us both out. Time to polish up my Japanese skills and start digging!

The temperature around here is steadily dropping, and we’re starting to shiver in the mornings getting out of bed. It’s just a matter of time before we start setting the heated floors to go on automatically every morning and evening. We also have put a few more holiday parties on our calendar – one with Kuniko’s coworkers next Monday, and one with Kuniko’s family on Christmas day. Kuniko’s parents, sister and brother-in-law will come over for Christmas lunch, and we’re going to go ahead and serve turkey for them to give them a unique experience. Maybe I’ll take on stuffing this time around…

I was able to enjoy a very long weekend, thanks to a day off that I had set up months ago. I used the extra day to pack up and ship all our Christmas presents to various places. Now it’s December 6th, and Christmas preparation is all done. We set up the Christmas tree on Sunday night, and we’re ready for the holidays. It’s a good feeling.

Speaking of Christmas, we’ll be hosting a total of three parties here before December 25th, so last night we ran off to Costco to stock up on party supplies. We’re going to serve roast turkey for Kuniko’s parents – I’m looking forward to seeing their reaction to the other white meat.

Since I had a long weekend, this week should be quite short. I’ve got a year-end party scheduled for Friday night, and an outside chance of a party on Wednesday night (with Kuniko this time), so it should be a lively week.

Today may or may not be a big day. I pulled out some steaks from the freezer, just in case. But there are a lot of factors that could change whether or not we celebrate with steaks. One big factor is the weather – if it is pouring, we’ll have to push the steaks to Sunday. And there is rain in the forecast for the evening.

At work today I’ve got a pretty full schedule of classes and meetings. Friday is usually my easy day, but not this week. Luckily, I’ve got a three day weekend coming up. This is an artificial long weekend – I took the time off of work back at the beginning of the contract, figuring that I probably need the time to get to the post office and ship off some Xmas presents.

Hopefully I’ll have some good news to post next week!

After a great dinner last night at Baan Thai with my students I’m thinking about making some more Thai food for dinner tonight when I get home. Bring out the coconut milk! On top of that, Saturday night I’m meeting Yoshi in Sannomiya and we’re headed to an Indonesian restaurant that I’ve been wanting to try. I met the owner last night, and he seemed pretty cool – hopefully his food is good, too. I’m not sure why I’ve suddenly got all the emphasis on Asian food, but it could have something to do with the turkey-fest we enjoyed last weekend. That was a lot of Americana packed into three days.

Last night at dinner I could speak with some ex-students who I hadn’t seen in a long time, and we talked about the changes in their lives. One had gotten married, and one is still trying but hasn’t found the right partner. You could sense the stress and desperation from across the table – it was palpable. If I can sense it in a relaxed, casual setting, I’m sure that potential partners get it right away. And I don’t think desperation is at the top of most desirability rankings in Japan.

OK – quick post today. Hopefully more tomorrow!