Note to self: do not make flippant remarks about the Emperor's properties!

Walking home tonight the sky was ablaze with color - real red-sky-at-night stuff. So I thought to myself, "Either we're going to have a beautiful day tomorrow, or the Imperial Palace is going up in flames." *snarkily giggling to self*


Not one hour later this is the view outside my apartment:



That's right. My apartment building was on fire!!! Now I'm not saying that the Japanese thought police caught wind of my lese majeste and decided to dish out a bit of 'rehabilitation'... but let's just say I won't be thinking bad thoughts about the Emperor or anything Emperor-related for a while.

Really please don't worry; apart from a bit of smoke, some very loud sirens, and a little confusion as to whether to stay in the building or not, all is well here.

And just in case my family is reading this and freaking out, here have some nice flowers to calm you down. So since fresh green, I've been very slack in keeping you up to date with blossom watch. I didn't even bother with azalea season, so let's just skip straight to 'Here come the Hydrangeas!'




Once again, all flowers kindly provided by the Japanese roadside.

On becoming deutsch

The deathgrip that japan holds on my allegiances is slipping. I can
feel myself moving over to the other side of the "axis": go team
Germany!

I am loving learning a new skill, and German is proving to suit me
down to the ground. Don't get me wrong - in the short time I've been
studying it's already been maddening. Why on god's green earth would
the noun for boy be masculine and yet the noun for girl be neutral,
not feminine. I feel there is some drunken bureaucrat out there just
throwing some dice to decide these articles at random.

I do also think there's another bureaucrat whose job it is to edit
Goethe institute textbooks to put a positive spin on modern germany.
I've only been studying for a month but already I've learned four
different ways to say 'nice'. Seriously I think it took several years
of Japanese before I knew more than one word for that concept. It
makes me think of that simpsons episode where the Germans take over mr
burns's power plant and they're warning monty not to cross them, "we
Germans are not as nice as you might think." and he's all sarcastic
and "Oh Smithers, the Germans will get me!" Ah back in the day when
that show was still funny...

Kind of linked to this, the addict in me remembered how useful tv was
in learning French and Japanese. I mean my ability with French had a
lot more to do with watching reruns of 'ally mcbeal' and 'murder, she
wrote' than with four years of university.

So now I'm immersing my after work self in German programming. And who
knew German soaps were so good!!! My god, I've only been following
them for a week and we've already had kidnappings, attempted murders,
weddings, deaths, the lot. And I've never bought into this whole
"German's have no sense of humour" bunk. This shit is funny and had me
lol-ing many times.

Well the sun is shining and I'm on the terrace if my fave vegetarian
restaurant in Azabu Juban. Time to put down the phone and dig into my
taco rice and corn tea.

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Frosty nipples and curry sweats...

I'm feeling very summery today. I guess it's only natural now that
it's the first of June.

We started "cool biz" in work. This is a fairly standard practice over
here where strict corporate dress codes are relaxed for the summer
months to help reduce the need for excessive air conditioning. It
means that for the next four months I do not need to wear a jacket or
tie, unless I'm with a very important client or at a special event. It
sounds silly but this small change makes everything feel so much
freer. Life in a japanese company can be restrictive and so any little
reduction in the pressure to be "proper" is gladly accepted. You save
a fortune on dry cleaning, too.

Over the years they have tried to introduce various fashions to
respond to this new "cool" market - light fabrics, grandad collars,
short-sleeved suit jackets (thank god that trend never stuck) - but
most people seem to keep to the no jacket and tie idea.

As usual, of course, I'm a few beats out of step with the average
person. I really missed my jacket on the way home tonight: not only
was there a nip in the air, there were two more cuttin' glass inside
my shirt.

To warm up I tried a new Thai restaurant for green curry. I'm still
getting the lovely spice sweats as I sit here typing. It's not hard to
find Thai food in japan, but it is hard to find GOOD thai food, in my
opinion. I've really lucked out of late, though. I've tried two new
places - one upscale and one cheap as chips - in the last two weeks,
and they have both been fantastic. So I am sorted now for curry
cravings whatever my mood and budget. I'm hoping their pad Thai is
up to muster, too.

Oher than that work is still limbo, but I don't care any more. What
will be will be! So, I'm just going to enjoy the fact that, while they
clearly don't know what they're doing with me, I'm getting home at 7
or 8 as opposed to 11 or 12. Result!

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