The days when you can wake up to a blue cloudless sky in Tokyo are less common than an honest politician. So when the weather gods deign us worthy of beautiful days here, you damned better take advantage of them.

So the lady and I bolted out of the house at the unseemly hour of 8:15 a.m., hit the trains and shlepped out to Mito in Ibaraki Prefecture to check out the much bally-hooed ume-matsuri, the plum blossoms viewing festival.

(Interestingly, my online dictionary turns up kanbai for “plum blossom viewing,” but I’ve never heard or seen the word before. Not that my knowledge of Japanese is anything to go by, but there it is.)

Even though only about half the trees were in bloom, it was a day trip well worth making.
Read more

Teaching shogakko, public elementary school, is a lot of fun. Barely any prep, once I’ve planned my lessons for the week. The kids are as well-behaved as you could expect a bunch of small humans that age to be, and most of them seem to really enjoy and progress with each lesson.

What sucks, at least for me, is the commute.
Read more

I don’t know if Marv from Sin City wore cotton socks. Probably not, he could probably only afford those nastily uncomfortable 50/50 cotton/poly blends that soak up foot sweat and amplify it into a room-clearing odor, elliciting ardor only in roaches.

But Larry Young makes a damn good point here. Do it your way, and don’t compromise for nuthin’.

And I’ll be doing just that, as soon as I save a bit more cash…

Escape plans continue to be finalized… Right now, my plans for leaving Japan hinge on whether or not my current employer offers me a job for April. If they do, I’ll be sticking around for most of the summer. If not… The Great Asian Tour might be a bit less great.

They act like they want to, but I don’t trust any company until papers have been signed, and even then I look at them askance. It’s like being a pig and not knowing if you’re gonna fly or turn into a not-so-cunning ham.

Hunter S. Thompson just killed himself.

Whatta fuckhead.
Read more

Bwa-hahahahahahahahaha! Bullshit.

Total, unadulterated bullshit is all I have to say about that fluff piece.

To add some Bush to the Cheney, Nova conveniently “forgot” to pay me an extra 30,000 yen (US$300) that they owed me from when I quit – in December. They only coughed it up after I dealt directly with higher-ups in the organization. When I told them I was considering hiring the well-known foreigners’ rights lawyer, Diego Montoya, they capitulated fairly quickly.

Mutant pink bunny fuckers…

I’ve now lived in four apartments in just over two years in Japan. Not a good track record for someone who hates moving as much as I do.
Read more