Hi JP.

Papa got your ticket and will send it tomorrow Saturday via PRIORITY MAIL
ADDRESS TO YOUR APARTMENT

ITENIRARY:

JULY 28, 2003 - MONDAY

THAI AIRWAYS INTL ECONOMY

LV TOKYO NARITA - 11:00AM
DEPART: TERMINAL 2
ARRIVE BANKOK 3:30 PM
ARRIVE: TERMINAL 1

E-MAIL IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS....LUV U----MOM

Viva granted me access to his VCD of Zhang Yimou's "Hero" so I watched it this evening. It turned out to be a gorgeous film. Fluid fighting (never enough but then again never too much either) and a moving story and soundtrack. The use of slow motion never seems quite overdone - it's all quite the poetry in motion.

I realized later after doing an imdb.com search that Yimou is responsible for "The Road Home" and "Happy Times" - both are films I've been wanting to see.

I just did a double take reading user comments at imdb - someone had the same thoughts and observations that I had while "Hero" progressed: I thought to myself "...Rashomon".

Rashomon is Akira Kurosawa's film that was probably recently adapted as a modern tale through Edward Zwick's "Courage Under Fire". The same event is told from the three characters involved. Each perspective is different. The same happens similarly in "Hero".

I suppose after seeing the same, predictable Hollywood movie, seeing recent films like "Solaris" and "Hero" are extremely refreshing and, more importantly, challenging.

While I'm at it, I noticed that imdb lists Wong Kar Wai's next film, "2046", as in post-production. I'm curious to see what his next work is - I still need to see "In the Mood for Love".

It hasn't stopped with films. I am still addicted to Beck's "Sea Change" album. Undoubtedly a downer, it's so beautiful I can't help but listen to it over and over. Lonesome Tears and Lost Cause are undeniably infectious.

Yesterday when Takashi sensei pulled out a CD to show us I tried to remember why the name on it sounded familiar. George Winston. And then I realized that he was on the Windham Hill records label - publishers of instrumental and piano works.

When I was in junior high school I used to listen to 94.7 on the FM dial. At the time it was simply called "The Wave" and they played new age and ambient music. Although I was 13, some of my friends could not understand why I liked instrumental and new age music so much. They just thought I was weird.

Years later they re-themed the station to play "smooth jazz". I didn't listen to the station anymore.

David Beckham has had a huge following here in Japan. For those of you who haven't heard of him, he's only the people's favorite gaijin soccer figure here in Japan. He was a Manchester United soccer player that recently made a contract switch to Real Madrid.

You can tell from that last paragraph that I have no clue how to talk about soccer.

Takashi sensei's get together today was fun. Food galore.

Among the many discussions he told us that the elementary school kids he taught recently called him "Bekkame". "Bek- as the first syllable of David Beckham's name and "Kame" because Takashi is Takashi Kameyama. Good times.

Today's company included Dion, his friend Natasha, Livia and I. In addition, Maki, Steven and Marcus joined us. Dion and I knew Maki from the elementary school workshop we had to attend last year - Steven and Marcus were new faces but very, very cool fellows from Australia who we had a great time talking with.

The piano took center stage as Dion performed, among other things, Canon in D and his own personal creation. Later we found out that Marcus did singing and performing arts (among many, many other things) before coming to Japan. He gave the piano a try. We were treated to a great contemporary piece of music.... that he composed himself. I wanted to talk to him more, but I was in discussions of Japan with Natasha and later with Steven, Maki and Takashi sensei's son Shun.

Shun just graduated to high school and still enjoys the good video game or two. He asked me (through Maki), "why is it called a video game? we call it terebi (TV) game". I spent a foolish amount trying to explain why it was "video" and not "TV". We went into a short discussion about why I thought Final Fantasy VIII was not good (different battle system from the others). He told me why he liked it (most other FF battle systems were too similar).

After the night was over, Takashi drove us up to a mountain in Wakamatsu. There were quite a few kids who had to have been drinking in the area, but they are (shall I say) mostly harmless.

The view was clear, beautiful.

Kitakyushu at night. Smokestacks were scattered about the cityscape. Towers filled up the rest. Hives of people. The most interesting thing that caught my eye were the smoke towers that I could only see because of the flashing strobes embracing them. My eyes panned the horizon and I noticed them - beacons of industry.

There are bits of writing sitting in a .txt file on my desktop, but I haven't had the time to post them up.

As my time in Japan counts down I want to spend less time going to dinners, parties and the like. I guess I just like being with a small group of people - there doesn't need to be some crazy hurrah.

Still, tonight I am off to Takashi sensei's gathering for us. He was a soccer coach who invited us to his home last August.

We met him at an elementary school workshop at Kitakyushu University. Although he's bit older he is very well in shape. Doesn't smoke, doesn't drink. A model father and a nice guy with a good sense of humor.

Hopefully I'll have some pictures to share.

Before first period one sensei went into a mad rage - I was at my desk in the staff room when I heard it.

Whatever the issue, he was yelling at her in true, enraged Japanese fashion. Short bursts of words, like bullets. Piercing. Of course the poor girl was crying after much restraint. Sometimes I wish I could understand the context. But I've asked before and people don't generally wish to explain. Then again, I'm not quite the insider.

Back home some other teacher at this point would probably say, "Hey, take it easy on her." He's only been yelling at her on and off since I left and came back after first period. From what I know, albeit little, she isn't a troublemaker.

Maybe it's not my problem. But I would still like to know.

Apple announced their new Powermac G5 computers. The new physical design of the G5 case is sexy as hell. It's ultra-minimal. The inside looks like something off of an exposed panel on a deck of the Enterprise.

The cost for the systems isn't all that bad either. I was expecting some crazy prices to show up.

But can you see it? I'm speaking like a convert and I don't even own a Mac. I never have. Apple's marketing department is very effective in causing a stir.

Steve Jobs says "...we've caught up with them on the PC... integer... floating point.... with real world apps". And so on and so forth. In his keynote speech in San Francisco he brought about all the figureheads at development studios and what have you. It was all quite impressive and exciting. The G5 outdoes even the most powerful Windows desktop they have running.

He pushes the Apple brand even harder by talking about the past year and the 12" powerbooks. "The smallest notebook in the world".

He didn't acknowledge all the very, very tiny laptops released here in Japan. The Sony U1, for example. The world is not the United States. Though it must be for most people back home.

Sony PCG-U101. I used to wonder, "why would I want something so small". But even after being here for just ten months, I understand. Tiny. Really tiny. Put-in-your-shoulder-bag tiny.

The Powermac G5. "The World's Fastest Desktop"... for now. It's obvious that Windows competitors will edge up the speed at the end of the year if not later. It's the neverending cycle.

Still... I wouldn't mind owning an Apple. Time will tell how the initial batches of these Powermacs fare in the real world. I'm primarily interested in its video capabilities. From my previous job as a tech support rep, I know for a fact that troubleshooting Macs was pleasant. Dealing with a call about PCs was like trying to resurrect the dead. Everytime.

It's exam week at Tahara JHS and I had no classes today. I decided to go through my 'webwork' folders to get rid of any extra files, screencaps, .PSDs and such. Lots of nostalgia came about as the process went on.

One of my former roommates, Joey, was studying for some final or other. He ended up writing that fine expletive pictured above. I pulled out my video camera since I didn't have a digital still camera back then. Later I captured some pictures from a video box to my computer.

I found that picture among my archives.

I cleared out remnants of concept images, old documents that had no sympathetic value to me anymore and other tidbits of information. It's all surreal to think that I've done that bit of webwork in the past three years. Lots of crappy clients and lots of good memories of workplaces where I used to deploy my poor web design. Ah, nostalgia.

The kids at school had three periods of tests. At 2:00pm, teachers were heading home. Morizono sensei offered to drive me to Shimosone station (tsuyu, or rainy season, is in full effect). I wasn't going to refuse.

McDonald's seems to be the "exotic escape" at the moment, at least from eating Japanese food. Don't get me wrong - I love Japanese food. But this was my version of "having something different".

Dion came by and we ended up talking a bit over dinner. Cheeseburger in his hand and chopsticks in mine. Using the mini tripod that Rosalyn lent me, I asked him if I could take a picture. He didn't mind at all, so I put the 10 second timer on and we resumed talking.

He's moving into an apartment 9 floors above me around the 14th, so he'll actually be a neighbor of sorts about a week before I leave Kitakyushu. I'm glad.

My deepest condolensces go to Canny's family and friends. Though I didn't know her personally, I do know Eartha and I know how hard this must be.

The last time I talked to Eartha online she was reminiscing about the many good times she had with Canny. And I suppose this is the best way to approach such a sad event.

It's hard to place myself right now. I found that many people left comments in the previous post about Canny's disappearance. And, as such, the comments page became somewhat of a posting board for updates on progress regarding the whole investigation. I came home today to more postings.

I don't know what more to say.

Nej posted about the release of his seventh geisha issue. I was fortunate enough to contribute a "page" to the issue.

Thanks, Nej.

I bought "Ocean Blue" last August when I arrived in Japan. I used it when I had the chance to pick up some Japanese releases and it served me well. Soon it will be in Sissie's hands - its new owner.

Farewell, trusty console...

I opted for a combo bento of sorts today rather than my usual run of 1,000 yen sushi.

Here is the successor to Ocean Blue. Meet MB or Midnight Blue. It's a Playstation 2 with a network adapter and hard disk drive already bundled.

PlayStation 2 broadband (BB) has started to get a push here. The 3 releases currently advertised include "Minna no Golf Online" ("Everyone's Golf" or "Hot Shots Golf" as it's known in the states), "Final Fantasy XI Online" and "Nobunaga Online".

"Minna no Golf Online" (or MINGOL as it's called for short) is enjoyable for those who can't devote a lot of time towards online RPGs. I've already had a few sessions that were a lot of fun. Online play is free until July, when Sony will start charging a 500 yen a month subscription fee (roughly $4.00 US).

Included with the PS2 BB Pack is the latest version of its "BB Navigator" software, which is still in its infancy (version "0.20") but shows what Sony has been planning to do all along, especially with their upcoming "PSX" media center.

The interface for the navi software is beautiful and, in my opinion, surpasses that of the XBox's.

Without a game in the console, the system starts up and allows you to jump into the "channel" menu which offers the following channels:

Game
Movie
Music
Photo

Game is self explanatory - you can load up games that have been installed into the hard drive (in my case, "Minna no Golf Online"), manage save data, and so on.

I haven't experimented with the Movie options that much other than play a DVD movie (which the PS2 has been able to do since its initial release).

Music. Just like the XBox, you can load up CDs and copy them to the hard drive via the music menu. In addition, if you have a NetMD minidisc player, you can hook it up directly to the PS2 via USB and dump the tracks straight to the MD - it's available right from the menu.

Photo is where you can upload photos to your PS2 - I haven't tried this but the option is there. Supposedly it supports most Sony digital still cameras off the bat.

While not a full fledged, net-surfing computer (*yet*) it's easy to see where consoles are headed. Similar to the XBox, it's not a bad package considering you have a solid video game system that can get online, take photos from a digital camera and send & receive e-mail. Maybe that's all some consumers need until the next iteration of consoles.

What other kinds of features should we expect from consoles in the coming years?

My friend Eartha has a close friend who was abducted. Canny Ong was visiting her father in Malaysia. She disappeared at a shopping complex car park.

http://www.bringcannyhome.com

Eartha asked me to list this site.

Question:
What is wrong with each picture?

Answer:
1. None of the student shoes are being worn.
2. No boys are hanging out on the balconies.
3. There are no students in class. They aren't at school.

This is the result of Typhoon 6, which passed by Fukuoka today.

Announced just a few days ago, this typhoon was responsible for today's closing of 230 schools in Fukuoka City. Classes were cancelled in Kitakyushu as well (but Kitakyushu JHS teachers still showed up at their schools).

Last night Yoshida sensei e-mailed me a message. The problem: she e-mailed the message to a wrong number. So I proceeded this morning like any other day. Wake up at 6. Go to Lawson's (Fanta Peach, Aquarius and a "sea chicken" onigiri). Board the highway bus at 7:05am.

As I was walking towards Chiyo's front gate, I noticed it was closed. I already had a feeling that not a student was going to show up. But I didn't know because I never got Yoshida-sensei's message.

When I walked into the shokuinshitsu, most of the teachers and even the kyoto-sensei were surprised to see me. Yoshimura-sensei told me that Yoshida emailed me. After some clarification, I realized that I didn't have to be on campus at all.

Winds began to pick up as the typhoon would pass by.

I figured I would call the BOE (Board of Education) office to take my last half-day of available paid vacation and head home early today.

Cut to me checking my cel: Stacey sent me a message. I read it - apparently, train services were halted. And so I started wondering: are the buses stopped too?

A quick jump to Nishitetsu's home page threw me to a traffic info page, announcing that all bus services to Kitakyushu from Fukuoka had stopped.

There are two ways I could have gotten home: pay over fifty dollars for a taxi, or hitchike. I was, naturally, stressing out.

By noon more than half the teachers were gone. Some of them took a full day of nenkyuu (paid leave) and some left before lunchtime. I ended up sitting at my desk doing various, trivial internet activities including a session of Reversi with Amber (who was let go early today by her ultra cool kocho-sensei). If I didn't have the internet at Chiyo I would have been face down on my desk, period.

Lunch came and Takeuchi-sensei asked me if I wanted to join them for a little meal excursion. Without any bento order I accepted with wide eyes.

After driving to two closed-establishments, we entered a well-known chanpon ramen joint. The food was delicious - the karaage (chicken) in the ramen was amazing and an additional side order of chicken wings was just as neat. It was good food and a nice plus to spend time with staff away from the school.

It made up for the crappy, surprise morning.

Salvation came in the form of one of our sports teachers who, like me, lives in Kokura. He drove me home when all the teachers closed shop and left at 5:15pm.

The typhoon may have passed us and the winds were strong at one point, but I have felt worse. It was a dud and botched the entire day. But on the flipside, it did give me a chance to see the staff out of their usual routine and have some chanpon. I can't complain about that.

Sometimes I can't believe how much I have moved around.

Chiyo Junior High's staff room is pretty much like any other.

Teachers at work.

Today I had four classes. Some 3-nensei and a few 1-nensei including one visited by Chiyo Elementary's teachers, but only for a few brief moments. Genki as always. I had a busy but good day.

When I first started at Chiyo, I asked Satou-sensei if he had a ruler. He came back from the supplies office with a meter stick. His sense of humor is wonderful.

The kosoku bus stop at Chiyo, eastbound for Kokura/Kitakyushu. That's 1,300 yen a day. And yes, it's literally right next to the highway.

Once I was home today I (once again) picked up a quick/easy bento for dinner and turned on the TV.

For the second day in a row I caught a drama (of sorts) that starts around 5pm on TV. From what I can gather, it revolves around a company and these office women. It's over the top and overacted. But I could actually understand some of it from time to time. Today's episode was great - I could understand more of their dialogue.

Of the six women, she seems to be the chief of sorts. I've seen her on various TV programs and I won't hide the fact that I think she is ultra sexy. It must be her voice, or just the fact that she comes off as extremely assertive and confident. What's her name?

It's London Hearts time tonight - last week there was an odd special about Ryo's marriage. So I am wondering if they'll return to the normal list of wacky blackmail.

There's something you don't see as often - the second floor of Yakyuudori.

Rosalyn's birthday was last night. I went around Uomachi to pick up a flower for her before getting to Koichi's early, as I usually do. Everyone else came about a half an hour later and we went up to the second floor, tatami and all.

I don't recall eating as much as I usually do, but I drank quite a bit. Some nama (draft), umeshu and more umeshu. After lots of fun chat and food some of us proceeded to a bar that I only recall Amber calling "The Red Room".

The place was posh, if only to hang out for one beer. Everyone was quite happy at this point, speaking madness as the hour went by. After a romp through there we walked down the street to "Fujiyama Mama's", an interesting bar with posh sofas, pinball sets for tables and good music. A rum & coke here and there and more chat. It was late enough that Rosalyn and some her friends went home. Chris and I decided to call it a night once we finished our drinks.

This is what I see when I look up in the center of building 7. Floor upon floor of people. Once I got into my apartment, I changed to sleep, turned on the AC and knocked out.... only to wake up comfortable, residually buzzed and wondering if I really slept - somehow I felt like I didn't get any deep sleep whatsoever.

That's Sunday night for you.

Every morning I have a routine of going to Lawson, a chain of convenience stores here in Japan. I pick up two drinks and sometimes a "sea chicken" (or tuna) onigiri. Last Friday it was a bottle of milk tea and some water.

The convenience stores here are just too wonderful. All the general items are there, such as your standard food, snacks and drinks. It doesn't stop there: light bulbs, recordable CDs, DVDs and video games. I can even get concert tickets from a machine in the store.

Last year, in September, I remember receiving some utility bills. I tried to decipher them and I noticed barcodes on them as well as the names of convenience stores on the back. So I walked over to Lawson's and handed them the documents. Scan barcode, pay, done. My bills were paid.

I'm going to miss that. But, on the flipside, I am looking forward to seeing a Super Big Gulp at the 7-Eleven back home. 44-ounces would make the kids out here gasp in disbelief.

Morizono sensei's one 3-nensei class today was met with boredom. The excitement mounted as I walked in and we went over the textbook and repeated words. This is because she assured me that her lesson would be fine. Besides, I didn't have any other ideas and the game I planned takes up an entire period.

Some of the classes had yet to introduce Japanese items to me, and a little less than half of the students didn't bring anything at all. I asked sensei if she still had the helper handouts that we copied for the other class last week. The response: she ran to the copy room to make some more. So I tried to explain what to do in English and some Japanese, which surprised some of the kids - I never really spoke Japanese with a lot of them.

Back with handouts, we passed them out. Again, sensei had to leave because an absent student's mother came by with concern over her daughter.

Do all teachers just leave class at anytime if someone happens to pass by?

Since I was there in 3-2, both Murakami-san and Fuji-kun helped translate for me, so I thanked them much. Most everyone else had their brains off or just stared at me trying to figure out my slower english.

Some of the kids got sentences done, but yet again we were out of time. I asked them to come to the staff room if they finished and wanted to be checked for speaking/writing.

I'll have to raise their spirits once this lesson is over with the activity I already made. It's ready to go, and I'll be using it when I return in two weeks.

Tsujii's sensei has one of the genkiest classes: 2-4. I try not to play favorites but these kids really fit the mold for enthusiasm and smarts. Some of them did grand today.

--
My parents e-mailed me back. It looks as though we are not moving to San Gabriel - someone snatched up the offer and there was some sort of miscommunication with the landlord of the previously mentioned apartment. Unfortunately the e-mail didn't go any further. So I can only guess if a search is continuing for a new home...

Perhaps I will ship some boxes to friends - they never seem to move around like my immediate family has.

Fuji-kun came to my desk in between third and fourth period - he surprised me with omiyage (souvenirs) from Kyoto.

He walked up, smiled and said, "It's omiyage. Let's open it."

"Okay," I responded. Lo and behold, a shuriken. And so I told him "If a student is trouble, let's use it." Of course, it was a joke and he laughed saying "no no no".

The week is very slow, so today was more time in front of the laptop. By sheer chance I loaded up manual's "ascend" album, and the first song (Midnight is where the day begins) sparked a considerable amount of inspiration. So I wrote and wrote, layering and relayering what I jotted in notepad. I have another short music video in writing.

Yesterday's weather in Kitakyushu went from sunny & mild to cloudy with heavy winds. The rainy season is almost here.

I received an e-mail message from my folks back home. At first I did a double take. Why is my mother telling me to redirect any future packages to my sister's address (just three houses down)? So I continued reading.

When I return home in mid-August, my parents will have moved from our house (in La Verne) to an apartment in San Gabriel, putting me closer to Los Angeles and further from my friends in the OC area.

Sometime last year before I left for Japan I was packing things away and I told my friends that something like this would happen. I called it, and look - it came true.

My parents have been having difficult times finding work. Mom works only a few days of the week and my father is working some odd jobs, nothing permanent. The rent in La Verne has been too heavy, hence the move.

While I understand the situation I can't help but be frustrated.

This will be the eleventh location we've shifted to. I'm not quite sure if this sequence is entirely correct, but since I was born I have lived with my parents in:

Fontana
Monterey Park
Costa Mesa
Riverside
Bakersfield
La Mirada
Bangkok, Thailand
Cerritos
Buena Park
La Verne

I always considered myself nomadic, but not by choice. Once more will I have to familiarize myself with a new neighborhood.

I was hoping to return to the familiar, but I am realizing now that I will return to another unkown of sorts instead.

Some images in this post were taken last week during an 1-nensei and 2-nensei class. I asked Matsuo and Tsujii sensei if it would be alright to snap some pictures of the classes in session and they gave me the green light.

Murakami-san's birthday was June 3rd, and I burned her a Third Eye Blind CD. She was overjoyed.

Last Wednesday's ALT meeting was almost like any other, save for an unsettling event in which one JTE physically elbowed and kicked an 1-nensei boy. It was completely uncalled for and of course was reported. Some of the others co-taught with him and it was clear that he was a strange guy.

I took nenkyuu (paid leave) on Friday to show Sissie around, who arrived Wednesday night and had taken the week off to relax and travel from her prefecture all the way down here to Kyushu. We visited some local spots in addition to Mojiko and Hakata (Fukuoka).

Starbucks here has a Matcha (Green Tea) Mocha Frappucino, which tasted to me like a Matcha Shake instead. Being the green tea ice cream fan that I am, the frap was nice as we caught up over the past year.

We got excited over a phone that has been pushed on TV and at local J-Phone stores: the J-SH53. What makes it so special?

The SH53 is a keitai (cel phone) with a megapixel camera, able to take pictures that early generation digital cameras would take. It has a "QVGA" display - its ultra sharp and amazing on the eyes.

In addition to the camera and display, the phone also holds the images and data via an SD memory card, which means that its owner could pop the memory card out and load the data into his/her computer if they had a SD card reader.

The keitai also plays MP3s.

Here are two resized images taken from a test drive of the SH53 over at k.vitalbit.com (click on them for the original phonecam shots):

How long will something like this take to come to America? It's just amazing. I was just about ready to get it despite the fact that I am leaving Japan soon. Still, the price tag was too high - even with my current discounts I have as a J-Phone member, it costs somewhere along the lines of $350.

My current camera phone cost me $35 when I signed up with J-Phone last year (it's a camera phone with a .3 megapixel imager). For a society that is truly connected, I think even the most expensive phone is worth it for its abundance of features.

The image above is a clear point-of-view from Friday night, when I drank at Yakyuudori with Tim and Yuki over the various meats-on-stick.

The weekend was trivial but in a good way. I spent Saturday doing little - cleaning house, laundry and some time with Zelda: Wind Waker. Sunday was a stroll through downtown Kokura where I got my usual 1,000 yen haircut. After crossing Amber at the ATMs I took her offer up on more Yakyuudori. So last night was another gathering.

Today was unsatisfying. Despite Morizono-sensei's return fax last week, her lesson was mainly open - "anything is okay" as she says. This lead to the class holding on to as much life as they could hold before falling asleep, and I tried to hang on too.

I decided that next week we're going to do something that I want to do, period. I should have done this long ago, but I figure that with just a few weeks remaining I don't want to have sour feelings towards my 3-nensei teacher.

I've been volleying thoughts back and forth about tomorrow's lesson, considering something to salvage the kids from the same, boring instruction. Laziness has creeped in though - I really don't want to think about work this evening. I'm too cranky.

I began work on my farewell speech. I'm trying to keep it short and sweet - I'll have to ask some of the teachers for the "proper" rather than caveman-James translation into Japanese. Abe-sensei said she was going to miss me today and the others I've started telling wished I would stick around for year two.

C'est la vie - a saying that has been going around between me and several friends both here and back home...