The two cuties, freshman Office Ladies by the look of them (black skirt, black jacket, black stockings black pumps and white blouses) dropped their bags on the two seats at the table beside mine. Simultaneously, they glanced my way, shrugged and proceeded into the shop to place their orders. I was reading “Without Remorse” (one of my favorite Clancy [...]
Summer has announced its approach by blessing us with a day warm enough to be spent on the beach. I spent mine however teaching my kids how to say what they were going to do this summer. One girl tells me she’s going to spend it thinking about me. She’s 15 going on 30 and wears her [...]
Well, here I go again…embarking on yet another series. This one is tentatively entitled: Things I love about Japan / Things I hate about Japan. It will basically be a journal…on a daily basis I am reminded of the reasons I stay and the reasons I should be on my way. I’ll try to keep them [...]
Yet more pics from graduation day… Don’t let their smiley faces fool ya! This is the Girl’s Basketball team and they play to win. They can do anything but dunk. I ended up on the floor (and so did they) a number of times. We played at least once a week…I think I will miss [...]
Tomorrow is graduation day for my seniors. This is the first graduating class I’ve actually known since they started Junior high school 3 years ago. We started about the same time so we’ve gotten pretty damn close. I’m sad to see them go… One of my favorites, J, asked me to write her a good [...]
Whenever I meet a new Japanese girl sooner or later they get around to asking me The Question: What are the differences between Japanese girls and American girls? It’s a loaded question to be sure. Back in 2003 when asked The Question, I’d look right into the doe-like eyes of my Josei (girl) du jour and say with a straight face, “Japanese [...]
…So, with Nanpa eliminated as a motivating force for study I moved on to the motivation that has given me the lowest level of gratification. Nevertheless, the hope of doing it effectively someday still springs eternal: Retaliation! In English, I have a whole arsenal of expletives at my disposal for use in those situations where [...]
After I had been studying Japanese (Nihongo) for over a year and still couldn’t hear it if my life depended on it, as you might imagine, I started to get a bit discouraged. I worried that maybe my brain had gotten too old to take on the challenges of learning a new language. They say a child’s brain is like [...]
5 & 6 – Service with a gleam and a song / Otherworldly Safe When I first moved to Japan I lived in Musashi Urawa out in Saitama. It’s about 20 minutes from Tokyo on the notorious Saikyo Line. The Ekimae (the area around the station) has a handful of of shops and restaurants…and as is the norm at [...]
4-Natto’s not-so good- And I could live my entire life without another morsel of Goya touching my palate. But everything else, so far, is delicious! Yes, I came for the adventure and stayed for the food. I talked about the Japanese obsession with calling everything Japanese to distinguish it. Well, when it comes to food, [...]
...cuz we all need defense against the dark arts!
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Raw Like Sushi
