For those of you wondering about the earthquakes, yes, I felt them, but no, I wasn't killed.
Amy and I were sitting here last Saturday evening watching a football game and enjoying a drink or two (or more for me) and out of nowhere Amy looked at me. It was one of those looks where you know you are in trouble for something; you're not sure what, but you know that look. So I looked back at her and said, "What?" with a kind of confused air to it.
"What are you doing?" she asked. "Are you shaking my chair?" She later admitted that she knew I wasn't close enough to be shaking her chair and when she looked around the room she, for a split second, wondered, "How is he doing that?"
Obviously in her mind I have a reputation for bothering her and at the same time she thinks that I possess abilities that only devine entities have. Not that I believe in those sorts of things.
But anyway, I said, "I'm not doing anything."
All this happened in about a second or two and then we both realized that the entire building was moving and that that could only mean one thing.
So we rode it out and the next two that followed within the half hour. They felt strong but not too much so. But due to my experience with earthquakes in both California and Japan (both times I have lived here) I thought, "That must have been a fairly strong one but must have been far away."
So as the football game we were watching was on tape I stopped it and turned the tv to the rabbit ears so that I could watch some local news. Sure enough they were covering the quakes and were showing footage from cameras mounted on buildings. That was when, through our mastery of the Japanese language and our excellent Kanji abilites, we figured out it was Niigata that received the brunt of the tremor. Niigata is the prefecture north of Nagano which is the prefecture northwest of us. So I pulled out my ruler and with that and the map on my wall I figured out the epicenter was about 200 to 300 miles away. Probably closer to 200. Anyway was rather destructive up there but down here in Yamanashi all is well. Except that now Amy isn't so sure about my god-like abilities.

So that was Saturday evening. But then yesterday, Wednesday, morning at about 1040am I was in class at Yuda (all girls). Class is from 955 to 1045. All was going well and we were finishing up when out of nowhere the girls screamed a bit and one of them got up and ran to the girl sitting behind her and they held hands. At this I stopped expounding my lessons on the finer points of English ("Shall we drink tea?") and looked at the other students. It was at this moment that I noticed the shaking and the teacher said to me, "Oh, earthquake" which I had figured out by this point but was thankful for the information nonetheless.
I have to admit though that this shaking was quite different than any I had felt before. It was strange. It was a much slower shaking and was very mild. But somehow I knew the quake wasn't exactly a small one (turns out it was 6.0 up in Niigata again). So here's my theory.....
The building we were in is a brand new one, as in it was built just this year. After they had finished this new building the old building at this school was renovated. Both are now being used. But one day while the old building was being worked on I asked Yazaki-sensei what they were doing. He told me that it was being renovated and was being made extra-strong for earthquakes. Made sense to me.
Now, fast forward to my busted Saturday out at the track in Suzuka. To fill the day Amy and I went to a science museum, one of those hands-on type things. They had different sections with different presentations. One section was on earthquakes and they had two miniature buildings that, when you pressed a button, would shake. But one building would shake much less and in a competely different manner than the other. Turns out that one was built normally, minus rollers under the building, and the other was built on these roller-type things. Imagine laying down a few pipes parallel to each other and then putting a box on top. Then imagine shaking the ground under this whole structure you've built. You can imagine that the box would shake much less and much differently than it might otherwise.
Anyway that's my theory for this new school building. Was quite cool to be in during a quake.
After it was all over I looked at the girl who had stood up and ran to her friend and said, "Ha. You think she can protect you during an earthquake?" But my English wasn't understood and I decided not to chide the obviously terrified girl any longer. My sense of humor is sometimes lost over here.

Ok, time to make dinner and watch more football.

Holy crap! I just read the news about the Red Sox. I can't believe that. Down three games to nothing and they win the next two games in extra innings to give themselves a bit of hope at 2-3. Then they win the last two games to beat the Yankees for the right to play in the World Series. Now that's a comeback!
Not only that but the Astros and Cardinals are now headed to game seven.
I only have one question...Why am I missing this?!!!

Speaking of baseball, here's a thought....why the hell would you give your son a name that sounds like a breakfast cereal for kids? There is guy, I kid you not, that plays for the Cleveland Indians named Coco Crisp. It's true. Look it up yourself.

And on another sports note....I am getting a football game right now pitting the Bills of Buffalo, New York against the Jets from New York City. Just started. I think this game is about a week and a half old, I'm not sure of this though, but I don't care as due to my skill in avoiding the news I can watch it as if it was live.
Tomorrow I get a game from this last weekend but I have no idea who it will feature. Hope it's a Cowboy game.

And that's your sports wrapup. Now to the weather......

Last night's typhoon was a wet one. I should tell you, though, that I was a bit confused about the numbers when I wrote yesterday. It was, indeed, the 23rd typhoon of the season but it was only the 10th to hit Japan. I shouldn't say 'only' as it is still a record for typhoon hits in one year, but it's not close to the 23 that I had thought it was. My confusion stems from the Japanese practice of numbering typhoons instead of naming them. Even if a typhoon doesn't hit Japan it still gets a number.
Amy and I were told that they don't name their typhoons like we do our hurricanes. One of Amy's teachers told her, "We don't like to get so friendly with our storms." HA!
Strange thing, though, is that I have been hearing that this typhoon did indeed have a name. It was called "Lizard" or the Japanese word for it, "Tokage". So I am not sure of this whole naming storms thing. I should ask somebody.
Anyway, last night was a little crazy. Not too much so, though.
It had rained all day and by about six or seven last night was absolutely pouring. There is a small channel behind my apartment and it was rabid with water. Normally the thing has a small trickle of water and when it rains for any amount of time tends to get up to about the level of a small stream. But last night the thing was gushing; so much so that the water was raging down the channel and overflowing into the parking lot. Many of my neighbors took it upon themselves to go out there and move their cars to higher ground. The thing was moving dirt around and this morning I found that the rear tire of my bike was slightly buried in about 2 or 3 inches of mud.
A few of us gathered over at Dilek's place (same building, other side) and about every 5 to 10 minutes we'd stop talking to listen to the public announcements which seemed nearly constant from about 730 to about 1100. Apparently, two people went missing over in Zenkoji which is right next to my area of Tokoji. Not sure what happened. But there were announcements, sirens, thunder....it was very noisy.
Also, some of the people in this building went to some shelter to wait out the storm. I have to admit that I don't think it was that bad, here in Kofu, but perhaps if I lived on a lower floor I might have been more nervous; especially if I had kids like many of them do. I simply stayed on the fourth floor (Dilek also lives on the top floor) and had a few beers and some conversation. There was no wind so my thinking was that unless a mud slide came down the hill, we'd be fine.
But it was a very large storm for other areas of the country. According to CNN.com 57 were killed and 32 others are still missing. I saw a little bit of footage on a Japanese channel and even a bit on CNN and it looked quite brezzy down near Osaka. People were being pushed by the wind while trying to walk and waves were pounding the ships and docks. Looked like a mess. This was a big one.
But, we here in Central Yamanashi, except for those two in Zenkoji if they were never found, came through it all alright. And today there is only a slight breeze and a lot of wet ground to show for typhoon 23 or 10 or Lizard or whatever the hell they are calling it.

At the risk of sounding like a lazy bum I should tell you that Tuesday I was home by 2pm due to that just being the way Tuesdays go no matter which of the two Tuesday schools I go to, yesterday, like I mentioned in yesterday's entry, I was home by noon due to school being let out early for the storm, and today I was home by 11am due to the students and teachers at the academy preparing for this weekend's school festival and there being no classes at all. I went out there this morning at my normal time and Ito-sensei looked a bit surprised to see me and then apologized for not informing me of the day's agenda. Of course, I was not upset and simply walked back to the station and caught the nex train back to Kofu. I should have gone to the kencho but I didn't want to. So I came home. And good thing as there's a game on.
I imagine tomorrow I will have all four classes that I normally have at my Friday school but one thing I've learned about my job is Japan is that you never know.

Ok, back to my research on which defense works best against Chad Pennington and Curtis Martin.

I'm not sure if any of you have been hearing anything about the typhoons over here, but by golly are we having a lot of them. I think about 3 or 4 typhoons ago they were saying that this was a record year for the number of storms to hit Japan. Today number 23 on the year landed. You thought Florida got hit hard this year, and you'd be right, but Japan, especially the southwestern part, has been getting hit week after week since about early July.
Anyway, number 23 is making its presence known. It's been raining here for over 24 straight hours and today's school ended after 3rd period. Yazaki and I were finishing up class when the bell rang signalling the end of the period and immediately following was an announcement. Of course, it was in Japanese and I didn't understand a word but after it ended the girls all let out a cheer and seemed quite happy. "Hmm," I thought to myself, "either Brad Pitt is going to be making a school visit or school has been called early."
Turned out to be that latter and I was home by noon. Nice day to sit here with the kotatsu on (low table with a heater and blanket) and read and write and watch the news and play a video game or two. All in all a nice day if you are indoors.

Last Friday I went to school and was getting ready for class when Katsumura-sensei came over to me. "Marcus, do you know about today?" I wasn't sure if this was a trick question of which the possibilities would be limitless, so I said I didn't. "Ah. No one has told you about the schedule today?" I indicated that she was correct so she continued. "There are no junior high classes today. They are at a sports meeting. Mr Sano or Mr Koshiishi should have told you. I am sorry." As you can imagine I was not at all upset with this news. When classes are cancelled at this school I tend to do a little mental rejoicing as that means one less time I have to come up with some idea for class. This is the school where I run the show and to be honest, my ideas are getting pretty thin. Every week I walk in there wondering if the game/activity I put together either the day before or that morning is going to work. So considering that I probably have about 30 more Fridays at this school, every time I don't have classes is one less Friday where I need to come up with an idea.
So as she went on I was having a quiet little party in my head knowing that next Friday could now be covered with this Friday's activity. "But if you don't have anything to do would you please come to my 3rd period class?"
"Sure," I said, "What you wanna' do?"
She then went on to explain to me that this class consisted of 1st year high schoolers and that she'd like to sing a song and then perhaps play a couple games supplied by me. When she said "sing a song" I knew full well what she meant as I taught with this lady last year, but perhaps you, my loyal readers, need some explanation.
Katsumura likes to teach with music. She picks random songs, mostly pop tunes of different generations, whose lyrics are in English. She then prints out these lyrics and brings the cd, and the class and I then listen to the song while reading the lyrics. Then I go over the lyrics with the students repeating them after me. And after all that we then listen to the song again with some of the braver little ones singing along.
So that was the plan for this class.
"What song will we cover?" I asked.
"Hmm," she said, "It's by Queen but I can't remember the name of the song. Let me check." And she ran off to her desk.
I followed and was pleased to find out it was one of those songs by Queen that I like. Queen really was a good band and most of their songs would have been fine but this song is an especially good one, "Don't Stop Me Now."
The chorus part goes like this, "Don't stop me now, I'm having such a good time, I'm having a ball. Don't stop me now, if you wanna' have a good time, just give me a call....." And it goes on with a quick beat, some images of rockets flying to the moon, racing cars zooming around, etc. All in all it is an upbeat song that celebrates the more fun times of life, albeit in that Freddy Mercury way which many of us know is extravagant and bisexual. And therein lies the problem.
As I was reading over the lyrics I noticed this, "I'm a sex machine ready to reload." Now, that isn't so bad really, but I wasn't exactly sure about how I would explain that to high schoolers. I mean "sex machine" is ok, no big deal, but "ready to reload"? How does one go about explaining multiple orgasms to 16 years olds. Especially when you know the English used is going to be new to them!
So I mentioned to Katsumura, "Hey, uh, do you know this line about the sex machine?"
But she quickly stopped me. "Ah, yes," she answered, "It's ok. They are high school students, not junior high students."
"Ok," I thought, "but this might get interesting."
In the end it all turned out ok. No one asked about the meaning of the line, although, I did see about three or four boys laughing with each other when I got to the good parts. I think they knew what "sex machine" meant but probably allowed the "ready to reload" part go over their heads.
Sure was funny, though, to have about forty 16 year old students repeating after me....
"Don't stop me now".....
.....Don't--stop--me--now
"I'm having a good time".....
.....I'm--having--a--good--time
"I'm a sex machine ready to reload".....
.....I'm--a--sex--machine--ready--to--reload

While I was writing that some announcement came on about the typhoon. Probably just a warning. I don't see anybody out there running for their lives. Sure is raining a lot. I've don't think I've ever seen rain quite as extensively as I have seen here in the last month. A few weeks ago we had three straight days of rain. Then we had rain a week and a half ago with typhoon 22. Now this. The ground is saturated and can't take anymore. I have a river running behind my apartment and a small lake has formed in the vineyard below my balcony. When it rained on me in California it would rain hard at times but never did it last this long. I mean it rains hard for a day then lets up slightly and then rains hard again for a full day again (wash, rinse, repeat). Impressive!

Speaking of typhoon 22, let me just say that my trip to Suzuka to see Formula One was a bust. One of the most disappointing times in my life. No one was shooting at me, mind you, but it still wasn't any fun at all.
Saturday was completely cancelled due to the typhoon (first time in F1 history that Saturday qualifying has been cancelled), and then Sunday was nice but was way too crowded. They sell too many tickets at that track and Amy and I couldn't find any place to sit around the entire circuit. We couldn't even find standing room with a good view. We settled for a standing spot where we could see about 80 meters of track (perhaps about a second's worth of each car going by), watched the start plus two laps and then left. It was THAT bad! I don't leave things early, especially sporting events, especially races, especially F1 which is my favorite sport of all (football is a very close second), so you know it was bad. Problem is, I know how good it can be. I've been to many races in America and never had a problem finding a place to see the track. This was just unacceptable to me. And what was really strange was that the Japanese people seemed to take it all in stride. I guarantee you that had this happened in the States, there would have been a hell of a lot of complaining and demands for refunds. Oh well, another "learning" experience, I guess.
(Note--I was going to tell you the entire sad story of my Suzuka trip in detail, but have decided that I'd rather just forget about it. That and I don't feel like getting angry again and that is what happens when I tell people about it. Trust me when I say you'd probably rather not hear about it anyway. But take it from me, if you ever go to Suzuka to see F1, fork over the $500 and buy a seat rather than the $150 for general addmission. It may be expensive but at least you'd get to see a race.)

Ok, that's all for today. Probably have to swim to work tomorrow.

Today I went by the Kencho for an hour. Had to use a computer that will take floppy disks as one of my classes at the academy wrote letters for English class, put them on a disk, and I had to take a look at them. Easy stuff. Anyway, before I got out of there and back to Yuda I was handed my recontracting papers. Funny what a difference a year makes. Last year I was quite happy to get the forms. This year I am not as it means that soon I will have to let them know that I don't plan to stay another year. Hopefully no one takes it personally.
I still have a while before I have to hand them in with my decision, though, but as most of you know, my decision has been made. Got till Feb. 4th to let these people know, though. And I think that I will only tell those people who ask before then. Usually that just means a few students and the occasional teacher. The people at the Kencho tend not to ask me about such matters until need be.

Right now I am not getting one, but two two two football games. Can you believe it? This weekend I discovered another channel that shows NFL games and was quite happy about it as you can imagine. So tonight I am getting the Giants/Browns game and the Buccaneers/Broncos game. Hell, I am getting more football in a week here than I could get in the States. All I have to do is avoid the sports news and I'm good to go. Monday night football, Wednesday night football, Thursday night football, Saturday football, Sunday football. It's a football fest over here. Nothing nicer on a chilly autumn evening than a football game a couple beers.

Finally saw the movie "Lost in Translation." Have to admit that I really am not sure what the heck that movie was about. I thought it would be about an American in Japan. And at first glance it just might be. But upon further review (yeah, football again) I am not so sure. Seems to me that the story could have taken place anywhere. I had the feeling that the writer/director just wanted to show Tokyo (please read NOT JAPAN) to Westerners who might not have ever been there. And if that was the goal then job done, not well done, but done.
But let me say this...that movie did not humanize one, no, not one, Japanese person. They were all made of cardboard. Yes, it's true that a foreigner can go to Tokyo and get lost in the crowd and feel a bit at odds with everything, but that is the nature of any city. You can get lost in LA or New York or London or Paris or anywhere. So if you think this movie was about Japan, please watch it again. And if you think that the Japanese people you saw in that movie are the whole of what make up Japan, pull your head out of your.....
The only thing it may have gotten right was some of the sights and sounds of Tokyo (again NOT JAPAN). A techno club, a kareoke bar, a pachinko parlor, walking or riding the streets and seeing the signs in Kanji, Hiragana and/or Katakana going by and the illiterate feeling that goes along with it, the trains passing by, the look of the taxis, etc. These things were superficially done, but did give me some of the same feeling as when I go to Tokyo.
But this movie really had nothing to do with Japan. Perhaps I went into it expecting too much, expecting to see characters interact more with Japan than with each other and espeically their own minds. Perhaps if the two characters had tried to explore a bit instead of sitting in a bar, they might have discovered themselves in Japan. But it is not characters' faults that they don't explore the world around them, it is the writer's fault. Yes, I realize that we all travel in our own ways, but if Mrs. Coppola's experience of Japan is what I saw in that movie then she wasted her time here.

The weather has officially changed here. Interesting how quickly it seems to do this. Just a couple of weeks ago it was hot and humid and still felt a lot like summer, but now I am sleeping under a blanket and pointing the fan more at my feet instead of at my back. Soon the leaves will be changing and I'll be loading up the bike for trips to the gas station to get kerosene. Changing seasons is something I really never much noticed in California. Kinda cool how it happens here.

Watching a football game right now. New York Giants vs. Green Bay. Good game thus far. Mostly defense with a few offensive mistakes that has kept the score at nil late into the second quarter. This game is about 18 hours old by my calculations. Happy to be getting it.

This morning I was sitting here watching the news at about 7:45 and waking up for work when the phone rings. It was Nozawa-sensei from Tokai where I was scheduled to go today. He told me "Ahh, today we have student assembly. Second period will start at 10:30. Please come to our school at 10:20 for the second period."
"Ok," I said, happy that I would not have to see my usual first class as they are a bunch of noisy and/or sleepy fools.
Then he continued, "Ahh, today there is no English club after the sixth period. But can you help me after school? I have work to do with university (Tokai is also a university although I have nothing to do with it). I need help with American news. Can you help me with American news?"
"Sure," I said, really having no idea what he was talking about. But that is they way it often goes around here and I've learned just to agree and then do what has been requested. These odd jobs are usually quite easy since I speak English fairly well.
So I watched more news, took my time doing everything and left at a leisurely 9:45.
When I got to school there were two notes on my desk that looked to be written by the same person. One was regarding second period and the other was regarding third. Both mentioned what this mystery teacher wanted me to do in each of these classes. From the looks of it I'd never been to the first class but had been to the second. While I was reading these notes I overheard the other foreign teacher there, an Aussie named Chris, talking to one of the Japanese teachers about today's class lengths. Apparently the morning assembly changed the entire schedule and all classes would be 40 minutes instead of the normal 50. My day was getting better by the minute.
About this time the writer of the notes came over and presented herself. It was Yikiko and I've taught with her a few times before. She's a very nice young lady but has no control over the first period students I mentioned above. Anyway, she was explaining to me what we'd be doing in the next class when Nozawa comes over and asks if I am ready to go to class with him. At this I gave them both the confused look and they gave it back to me as well as to each other. Some mixup here as I can't be in two class at the same time. So they talked in their native tongue while I awaited my fate. So I ended up going to class with Nozawa and seeing my normal class (I like this lot) and had a fairly normal time.
After this class I went back to my desk and read over the note I had for this class. Strange thing though because I could have sworn that the handwriting was the same which would make this a note from Yikiko. But while I was reading it my normal third period teacher came over and began talking about what we'd be doing in our class. She was explaining when Yikiko came back to her desk, heard what she was saying to me, and reacted in a very surprised manner. So again, the native tongue comes out and I awaited my fate. This time, though, Yikiko won and I went to class with her.
These people need to talk to each other before notes get written and I show up. Nutty morning.
Then during the fourth period, for which I was off today, Nozawa comes over and leads me to a room so that I can watch the "American news." It ended up being a 30 minute local news (on NBC) from New York. Nozawa explained to me that they spoke English too fast for him to be able to understand. So my job was to watch a segment, stop the tape, and then explain what it was about to him. The news was from early August so it wasn't all that interesting. We did half of it during this period and then finished it up after school. Was easy.
Another funny part to the day happened during lunch when Chris told me, "Well, I got hit by a little karma today."
"What happened?" I asked.
He then proceeded to tell me that a few days ago he had helped a class prepare some questions to ask me today. He said the questions were good ones relating to my love life, relationships between boys and girls, and other things of that nature. Essentially questions no teacher wants to tackle in front of a bunch of horny teenagers. The karma came in when, in the all the confusion over which class I was going to, he ended up having to go to that class himself and answer those questions. HA HA HA! Now that's funny!
Anyway, was a good day. I like it when the schdules change and I end up hainvg no idea what I will be doing; especially when it happens at a school where I don't much care for a couple of the classes I normally have.

This weekend I go to Suzuka for the Japanese Grand Prix. I have been an F1 fan for about 10 years now and have seen the Suzuka race every year on tv so this is going to be great to actually be there. I will post pictures here when I get back.

Ok, that's enough for tonight. I am at the Kencho tomorrow so I might write more if I have access to the computer. Now back to the game. 7 to 7 in the 3rd.

I bought this mask at an antiques shop. Is wood and looks to be hand carved. Very nice and crazy looking. 

Mr and Mrs Yamashita. Great great people. And she is a damn good cook. 

Amy and I and the Yamashitas. They are a great family. We trully love them and are trying to talk them into coming to California to visit us. 

Me and the boys. Massa is 8 and Shuhei is 13.  

Massa doing his Ichiro impression. 

C'mon pitcher, throw it in there! 

Massa and I doing our versions of the yokozuna shuffle.