I just bought a digital camera, and since the typhoon has been in full force since its purchace I've been relegated to indoor testing in my poorly-lit apartment. For cultural curiousity, anyway, I've included a photo of two Shoa Era coke bottles with "Coca Cola" written in katakana. Dating these bottles as such sounds exotic, I think, but please realize that the Showa Era, in fact, ended a mere seventeen years ago. Anyway, the bottles are fun.

The typhoon itself wasn't so daunting; it consisted largely of torrential downpours reminiscent of the rainy season, and intense humidity also reminiscent of the rainy season. The earthquake on Saturday, however, was a little scary. 4:35 found me teaching a lesson on the fifth floor of a wobbly old building, the entirety of which proceeded to shake for a solid thirty seconds. It was definitely the biggest quake I've felt so far. Positive aftereffects of these distasters (or the typhoon, at least), are the first clear skies and direct sunlight we've seen in weeks. No haze!

I've been choto sick recently, and it has NOT been pretty. So, Wednesday I stood in awe as, over the course of the day, my sinuses produced at least a liter of snot. Once that feat was completed, I started the new Harry Potter book. Reading quickly consumed the rest of a fantastic afternoon, and I passed out in a euphoric, Felix Felicis-esque (?) daze somewhere around page 450.

Thursday I'd made plans to experience the joys of nature with some friends. We tossed around a trip to Hakkone but eventually decided on Sagamiko (man made lake near Takao, please refer to February's posts for stories of police car rides in the vicinity) where we negotiated a cheap deal on a four-man duck shaped paddle boat, paddled to the middle of the lake, went swimming in our clothes, docked on shore, and pillaged an abandoned house. We even purchased a frisbee out there and were able to find an acceptably large patch of grass upon which to throw and chase. Mind you, this is the first time my feet soles have alit upon grass for over nine months, and it was delicious. Oh weekend, more days like you, please.

An aside, the weather has been very suzushii lately (lately being the past 12 hours), which means cool and amazingly pleasant. NO complaints, cross your fingers it stays.

Some may call it that, but I call it sweat. And man, in the throes of this Tokyo summer I have been sweating like never before. Take the quantity of sweat produced by the entire population of the Kentuckiana area on the most humid day of summer 2003, multiply by a mole, and there you have the quantity of liquid my pores produce in any given Tokyo minute. I'm exaggerating only slightly.

Unrelatedly, this guy (the one to our left, here -- in the ND hat, not to be mistaken with the convincingly blonde mermaid) has a birthday today. You may not know who he is or why he's pretending to be swarthy in this photo, but whatever. Happy birthday, papa. Best wishes!

And a little 24-hours later addendum to fill up what I discovered was unsightly trapped white space*: Monday was Marine Day in Japan. I found, however, that most Japanese paid little to no respect to all things marine on said day. The holiday is, in fact, one of the many holidays set by the Japanese government within the past few years to reduce stress for businessfolk. Japan has almost twice as many public holidays as the states. Or maybe it's one-and-a-half times . . . either way. Nice.

*Maybe the only thing I remember from eighth grade journalism -- thanks Mrs. Walker!

For the past two weeks I've been having ridiculous troubles with my cellular telephone. I never imagined I'd be so reliant on such a small and technologically advanced crutch, but you know whey say about never saying never: When In Rome. In the U.S. I went cell-phone-less for quite some time. But here in Tokyo my Sanyo V401SA is my lifeline. It has a 1.3 megapixel camera, email and texting abilities (in Japanese and Roman and other characters sets), access to the internet, one keen finger on the pulse of the train and bus systems all over Japan (all I do is input a point and preferred time of departure and arrival and viola -- my phone spits the three or four of the cheapest and/or most convenient routes to anywhere in Japan), and it can make phone calls. BUT I left my charger in Kyoto, thus setting off a week of agony and distance from the world. I just don't know what to do with myself! Without a fully functioning phone, I am a social Outkast. It's not like I can just talk to people. . . face to face . . . can I?! Help!

Kyoto! Was. Fantastic. It was awhile ago, but here's a brief recap: Andy and I arrived in Kyoto on a Wednesday afternoon. We checked in at the Gojo and immediately explored the city, eatching green tea soft-o cream-o and stopping for dinner in Gion. We got to see some momoko (apprentice geishas), who looked beautiful if not pained. We also scoped out Kiyomizudera by night, but it was closed. The next day we went to every possible famous Kyoto tourist spot, by bus and foot: Kiyomizudera (one of my favorites, I think), Kinkakuji, Ryoanji, Ginkakuji, and Fushimi Inari (at night, which was scary. The shrine grounds cover an entire hillside featuring paths through tunnels of red torri. It's surreal and creepy and awesome). Day three we hopped on the shinkansen for Himejijo, the oldest and largest intact castle in Japan, which was interesting in its own old, timbery and aromatic way. Then we went to Kurama and hiked to Kibune to see the most fantastic (and pricey) restaurants this side of the Mississippi. Imagine tatami mats suspended over a mountain stream, surrounded by paper lanterns and flanked by silk screens, all open-air. They were charming. We, sadly, were forced to eat near our hostel due to price constraints. Lastly lastly, Saturday morning, we went to Nijo Jinya, an old samurai-style house, which was interesting but hot as the dickens. And thence (?) began our Fuji adventure, not for the faint of heart. So that's Kyoto in a paragraph.

My Japanese language is getting good. Hey, everybody! Come see how good I look . . . I mean, how good my Japanese is. Everybody.

Last Fuji photo: a picture of me and Andy at the eighth level of the mountain. Lord were we tired. Kyoto stories and pictures to follow as demanded by Scolson, maybe tomorrow. I just finished eight straight days of teaching (ok but draining), and it has sucked dry most of my posting stamina.

For the evening of the 4th I hung out with one American and one Australian.* It was raining, so instead of going down to the river to set fire to things as planned we downloaded some Lee Greenwood and sang God Bless the U.S.A. and its vino-induced Tokyo Gaijin version in heavy rotation. Then we ran around Fuchu setting off fireworks in every park we could find (exaggeration . . . the nearest parks to my house, anyway). Though it may sound like hooligan behavior, such activity is actually quite legal in Japan. I was assured today by a French teacher who did the same for Bastille day last year. Phew.

Huge congratulations to Lora on her engagement, and to Lee whom I've never met, and to Amanda Falto and CJ for setting a date. Yikes!

*To appease Megan we also downloaded a copy of I Still Call Australia Home by Peter Allen. Catchy, but definitely a stretch. Australians.