Okay... (Thumbs Up)

If in my former life I should have witnessed at a table nearby two or more speaking in a language I did not know, I would feel excluded. Their secret code was not mine. But here I can sit at a table and listen all night to women speaking Japanese, and feel that I understand. There is no discomfort, save that of the chair, which is far too small, and closer to the floor than my legs would like.

When I perceive they are talking to me, I say Hai, or Okay, and give the thumbs-up.

And then they tell me I do not joke.

...Okay (big foreigner smile)

Happy Thanksgiving From the Future

It's off to Subway. Or if I can't find Subway for a turkey sub, then perhaps KFC will do.

Have a thankfully holiday and a givey feast, and don't forget the historical fiction upon which it is all based.

peace... from the future.

The Future Adventures of Gentleman Jack

The upcoming weekend will be the first time I am able to do some exploring. I must decide what to do. Going to a city would be nice, but would require money that I do not really have at the moment. A journey into the quietness of places, that requires a little travel money, but nothing I cannot spare. I'll attempt something in this area.

And for Winter Break I have a couple of weeks... what to do?... hmm

I find that I have taken a break from serious writing. Well then, okay. I'll not fight it until I feel the need.

Gentleman Jack Goes to Dinner

This has become my nickname among my students and at the office. The reasons may be fairly benign, or not. I wish they would call me Dr. Jack, but Gentleman Jack it is. Here's the people I know so far, most of them:

My Coat Frees Me Up to Enjoy This

I remember hating the snow, or at least being indifferent to it. What a strange person I used to be.

Zesty Food (Let's Fiesta)

Here are pictures of a shinkansen densha, my new stoop, a man from the moon, the packaging for a taco at the only place in town you can get tacos (think of a bad taco and then fry it in tempura, and then you will envy me), and an unnecessary photograph I took of some red-leafed plant... I am practicing caring about the garden.








I'll try to remember to take a picture of the warning label they post in all the elevators. It's the best thing I have probably ever seen. And I never exaggerate.

The Job of an Iron

I am leaving Tokyo in a couple of hours and heading to Furukawa, by way of Sendai.

I asked for an iron, and they said that when I arrived I could either have an iron or a wife.

The iron would be your standard sort, and the wife would be from Korea.

No Japanese? Then forget it, I'll take the iron, I said.

It got cold today. I miss everybody, some more than others, but I don't want to come back. So I'm good, I guess.

Don't Dress for Dinner

For those in San Antonio and surrounding areas, you need to get in your cars and go and see this play. And for those a little further away, there are trains and planes, and if you own a hot-air balloon, I think it would be awesome to show up in that, all decked out in formal attire from the early 1920's... just floatin' it out there; feel free to expand on my idea.

Confirmation that, yes, the world is indeed full of 'em

My training is going really well. And I'm very happy I chose this particular group to work with. I have to start with that, because it may sound as though I'm complaining. Not in the least as regards my company... they are on top of their shit. But my fellow trainee, the only other one going through this with me, is a bit of a douche. First, he leaves some important paperwork hours away, and demands time off from training to go and get it. The reason he gives is that he doesn't feel comfortable going out late drinking in Shinjuku without it. So he throws this tantrum about it today, and he still has not been over to get it, and after work, he wants to go to Shinjuku... his treat, he says.


Why not?


I'm tired but why not? I always like to experience as much as possible, and he says you can't come to Tokyo and not go to Shinjuku. It's the quintessential Tokyo. That's enough for me, so we go.

One beer, and then I have to watch him play this street-fighter game for an hour, and then get his ass kicked by a 13 year old kid (at the game, mind you--if the kid had actually taken him down I would be writing an entirely different blog about my rad night). So we spent an extra seven dollars on JR line tickets just to go play a damned video game... not to mention that Shinjuku, while impressive, is home to the Krispy-Kreme, McDonald's, KFC, Eddie Bauer... let's see, what other quintessentially Japanese establishments are there... oh there is the Koma Theatres, which cracks me up. They have a giant screen monitor outside the theatre, which they've awesomely titled, "Koma Vision." Yeah, I was feeling that. And I couldn't ditch the dude because, since he's been here for a month and I have only been in Tokyo for less than a week, I'm the one who's figured out how to navigate the train system.

So we get home after this adventure (I have been imagining that this entire evening would have been raucous and unbelievably fun with any number of you--my possible readers, especially with the Christmas lights up an such a spectacle going on, free J.Rock/Pop CDs being handed out, etc.) and one of the trainers asks if we had a good time.

Eh, it was all right, he says.

So what the hell were we doing there?

And then we walk out on my balcony, and I have changed into shorts and a t-shirt, and he is Canadian and wearing a hooded sweatshirt and jeans, and he's Canadian dammit, and he's shivering. It ain't cold. He's freaking out shivering. He's from CANADA!!! I'm from Texas, by the way.

But I found this funny, so whatever. Not seven dollars funny, but entertaining enough.

And that's my English-speaking friend in Japan. I liked it better when I didn't understand anyone.

Where I got lost...

I never even looked at a map and I found everything I was looking for using the sun and a few landmarks. Where I got lost was inside Tokyo station. I couldn't find my line going in the direction I wanted to go, and I think it was in the "other" Tokyo station, so I just jumped on the green line (which goes in circles) and found a stop I liked, then hopped the Chuo line home. The end.

Here's a few things I saw today: