Entries this day: Air_conditioner Hugs Internet_at_home Work Writing

Air conditioner

8:09am JST Friday 20 June 2003

I'm thankful to have my small room at the front of our apartment. It's just off the entry way, opposite the bathroom. A door separates the entry area from the living room. Frank and Matty have their rooms on either side of the living room.

I'm thankful because Frank and Matty have the air conditioner set to Stun. It's like a fucking ice factory in their area.

I've just got my window open and a fan blowing.

PLUS, outside the air is SO NICE right now! There's a blustery breeze like that which announces the arrival of a storm (not that a storm is coming, but that's what it reminds me of), and it's just lovely.

Aight; I gotta roll for Japanese lessons with Ayana. I didn't do as much pre-writing of sentences as last week, but I did some last night.

Hugs

11:10am JST Friday 20 June 2003

I have just finished my lesson with Ayana in Shibuya. I was way distracted during the lesson. My emotional body is all awry. I think crying may help. brb.

- - - -

Crying helped a bit I think. Or maybe a bit of crying helped a lot, possibly what seems an incredible amount of goodness for a tiny bit of crying.

Possibly there's more to emotions than I totally understand.

("Haha that is joke.")

- - - -

When Ayana could tell I was distracted, she asked "are you sure you're okay?" and I could just feel the emotion on the edge of exploding out, no I feel like bawling cause I haven't hugged anyone since I've been here. Haven't trusted anyone enough to hug a real hug like in I-group. A fake hug would be just pointless and patronizing to my need. A sex hug would be relatively easy to get, but I don't really want that.

Oh hey, Frank is back in town. I might (haha there's another word-fuck) talk to him about his connections with men through AA.

Internet at home

6:37pm JST Friday 20 June 2003

Cory has sold me on getting Yahoo! BB at the apartment. He says we get the first couple months free *and* that includes free international calls. FREE. After the first couple months the calls are less that what I'm paying with Brastel, my calling card. Rock on.

Work

9:29pm JST Friday 20 June 2003

Work at KQ was pretty fine today. I had all man to man lessons except for one (2 guys). And I did my first level check. He was 65 years old, and about level 7C. A high level 7C; I recommended that he be given high level lessons and auto-level up in 5 classes if all five instructors thought he passed the lessons.

I'm developing a crush on Sumika, who works in KQ full time now. She speaks English pretty darn well and though some people have suggested she's rude, she seems quite polite and nice to me.

Wende has said this is my one romantic-tragic-flaw: I won't stop looking.

I gave my email address to a woman today and felt no remorse nor regret. In this case it's not that I hope to bang her, but she seemed like a cool cat and we might be able to do a language exchange. We'll see.

The quote of the day:

You've been here 85 days and you know hiragana?

You're so clever.

- - - -

I got a seat on the train going home, which is rare cause the train is packed. There's no one sitting next to me, though there is room.

Writing

11:09pm JST Friday 20 June 2003

My flatmate Frank is writing a book about his experiences in Japan. When I first contacted him in early March, he sent me a bunch of emails. I didn't read them until after I arrived in Japan cause I didn't want them to taint my view of Japanese culture. I wanted to experience Japan with a Beginner's Mind (a term from Brugh Joy, I think).

I just finished the five or six such emails I hadn't previously read, and I'm inspired to write a bit more about Japan and not just my experiences in Japan, though of course, these are all based on my experiences in Japan.

Let me first be clear that these are about Tokyo, the huge city-capital of Japan. Things way out in the country may be far different.

1. A ridiculous number of people here smoke. Cigarette vending machines are in every building, every train station, and many street corners all around the city. Officially minors are not allowed to buy cigs, but obviously there's no controlling a cigarette vending machine outside on a street corner.

2. A ridiculous number of people here drink. Drinking seems to be a hobby for some of my students. Not that they come in drunk (though a couple do, and I do mean couple like two students out of hundreds, not a couple per day), but some of them say "I like drinking" when we do the smalltalk chit chat at the beginning of some lessons. Many have said (essentially) "I am tired cause I was up too late last night drinking."

3. Many of the Nova instructors drink. Frank warned me that many of them have drinking problems, and I may have to agree. I can easily say 2/3rds of our teachers drink every night, and some I know get plastered at least once a week. I know one instructor at our school has called in sick more than once for this reason.

   Upon a brief discussion with Frank, we decided that this job attracts, rather than creates, people with drinking problems.

4. Japan has excellent customer service. When I approach the counter of a convenience store or restaurant, I never have to wait for a clerk. That's not to say I never wait in line, but never is there a customer at the counter without a clerk there. Many times another clerk will appear if more than 2 people are in line at a single register. If possible, that clerk will open another register. If that can't be done, then the clerk will help with sacking the items, heating food, etc.

5. Japan has excellent customer service. I can be lost in a train station, and ask any uniformed person how to get to X. That person will do everything possible to make sure I understand how to get there. This may include drawing maps, giving me maps, finding someone who can speak better English, or actually leading me where I'm trying to go.

   My best story in that department starts when I was lost in the wrong train station. I talked to a custodial woman who led me on the train, rode with me to the next station, and would have led me to the platform of the next station had I not begged her pardon and assured her I now recognized my surroundings.

6. Japan has a great variety of toilets, including the porcelain/stainless-steel-lines hole in the ground, water-mising western style toilets (turn the handle one way for number 1, another way for number 2) (like that which is in our apartment), and heated seats with butt sprayer and bidet like that which is available in hotels and some nicer office buildings.

7. Japanese are in love with their cell phones. Part of the reason may be that the phones here utterly destroy the best phones available in the US (I don't know about Europe). My tiny flip phone can take pictures, browse the web (including submitting form data, though the interface is a bit cumbersome), send email (including sending pictures as attachments), has 500 person memory (and can have a picture associated with each person, so when they call their number and picture appear on my phone), has tons of rings available, allows me to compose my own ring tones, has two full color displays (inside and out), and can make and receive calls.

8. Japan is quite sexist. Women are often expected to be housewives. Comic books often depict rape scenes. The age of consent for girls is 16, and for guys it's 18.

11:51pm

I'm tired. More later.