Notes to Myself

One Month

Welcome to July 2004.

I'd just like to congratulate myself on managing to post every day for the month of June 2004. It's all a motivational wave, really. Apologies for the slow times ;)

Wimbledon Woes

Tim Henman goes out of Wimbledon in the quarter-finals.

Tim Henman's Wimbledon campaign came to an end with a shock defeat to unseeded Mario Ancic in the quarter-finals.

The 20-year-old Croat came through 7-6 6-4 6-2 in two hours 12 minutes.

I'm feeling pretty gutted. I rushed home to catch the last set on radio... and when I tuned in Henman was two sets to love down and 5-2 down in the third set. "OMG," as I emailed a friend. Shortly after that it was all over.

Kanto Top 8

While out drinking with a new bunch of people the inevitable 'second party' conversation came up. Someone mentioned billiards (pool etc.) and I agreed to play.

My opponent told me that he was pretty good but I'd never played a Japanese person who can play pool so I fancied my chances. As it turned out, he was a good player.

We arrived at the pool hall after a couple of drinks so I was very relaxed and my cueing arm seemed to be 'in the groove'. I absolutely destroyed him, about 4-0, I think it was.

As we played he told me that he was a top 8 junior billiards player in the Kanto (関東) region a few years back! Was he pulling my leg? In any case, I boldy declared myself as having the same skill level as the top 8 junior billiard players in the Kantou area!

Sea Paradise

There is a new photo gallery to see at notestomyself.net: Sea Paradise. Sea Paradise is located in Yokohama, Japan, at 八景島 (Hakkeijima). There is a man-made beach, amusement park and huge aquarium. I spent most of my day there at the aquarium and took some interesting pictures I thought I'd post online. This place makes a great day out - check it out.

As ever, if you have any feedback, please leave a comment.

Semi Chance

Good old Henman pulls through to reach the last eight at Wimbledon 2004!

Wimbledon Week 2

Henman made us worry a little but he's through to the second week of Wimbledon. How will he fare against Philippoussis?

English Bloopers

Third year junior high school students mistakes honestly made me burst out in laughter. I would like to say that I appreciate the difficulties in learning a new language and that I try my best not to laugh at mistakes, but sometimes things are just too funny.

How many times have you been to Kyoto?
I have never been to America.

What was your favourite place?
shika! (deer)

Why did you like Kinkakuji?
Its...very gold.

What's in Todaiji?
A big doll (big Buddha) - good improvisation

Where did you go?
Huh, onion?

Dropped Shopping

Do you ever do something or not do something and you just can't believe your own actions? This happened to me when I saw a foreign guy walking by the station. He was carrying several plastic shopping bags and as I was just about to pass him he dropped one of them. Well, I was pretty sure he dropped it, but not 100% sure. The noise was fairly audible so I was a little surprised when he didn't seem to hear anything. I wanted to say something but nothing would come out. Something held me back! Was it because he was foreign? Some kind of inbuilt safety mechanism? I feel much more wary of foreigners for some reason - bizarre. The man walked off without his bag and also went on my way, feeling quite ashamed with myself.

Nail Talk

On a packed train waiting for it to leave the station a young girl in her twenties gets on, in a typical 'going out for the night style, but actually I dress look like this every day': very styled orange dyed hair, lots of make-up, long eye-lashes, very long fake nails, short skirt and high heels; not such an uncommon site in Japan.

She was already talking on her keitai or mobile phone when she got on - a big no-no in J-society, but some people seem gutsy enough to speak without covering their mouths and phones with their hands. Within the same 10 seconds another man got on. They were both by the doors as there wasn't anywhere else left to stand; I was slightly behind them.

As the young woman was talking, the man suddenly got off again. 'Strange,' I thought. Obviously the girl did too, as she started telling her friend on the phone about it. The doors closed and the train left the station, packed with people aboard.

Then the lady started talking about her nails, as she waved them in front of her face.
'I've just realised, but I think my nails might be too long... hmm, but they are cute!' I thought this was quite funny, especially because I'm sure everyone was listening.

Euro 2004 Pain

England hopes are dashed as they go out of Euro 2004 to Portugal on penalties!

Portugal 2-2 England
(Portugal go through 6-5 on penalties)
Portugal reached the semi-finals with a 6-5 penalty shoot-out win over England.

Not Kitty Chan!

Kitty-chan is the one with the red bow....the other is her sister! I didn't know that.

Don't Worry

This really did happen naturally. It looked sweet so I snapped a picture of it with my phone.

Combini Girlfriend

Coming out of my local 99 yen shop I spotted a couple of high school students hanging out by the combini across the road. I recognised one of them as an ex-student and went over to say hello. We exchanged pleasantries and I asked her about how the school tennis club was going.

As we were taking, another young girl smoking a cigarette stopped her bike to say hello. She looked at me, then paused... then she said something along the lines of 'Who's this?' to the girl I was talking to. 'He was an ALT teacher at our school,' came the reply. Smoking girl then said, 'Oh, he's older?' with a slightly puzzled look, and then, 'I thought he was your new boyfriend.'

Wimbledon 2004

If you follow this BBC link you can follow all the tennis news.

I've just had a quick chat with Mum back in the UK and she told me that Wimbledon is underway. Apparently, everyone in England is expecting big things of Tim Henman this year - well, isn't that every year? With the Euro 2004 result, the atmosphere sounds exciting back home - high tension stuff.

In fact, Henman has a match going on right now. I'm listening live to a radio broadcast which you you can find by clicking on the link above.

So, old Tim is struggling already, in the first round...! But he's just comes back from 5-2 in the 2nd set tie-breaker to level the match at 1 set all... go Henman!!

Even if you are not interested, why not give Tardis Tennis a go! Worth a visit if only to hear that magical music.

Euro 2004

So, at last I've had time to check the news online. I was browsing the BBC News site and was shocked to see this article.

"A Wayne Rooney brace and goals from Paul Scholes and Frank Lampard ensured England will meet Portugal in the quarter-finals of Euro 2004."

I'd forgotten entirely about Euro 2004 but am pleased to see England has reached the quarter-finals. Go Eng-gaa-land!

Kansai Desho?

At school one of the teachers told me that she comes from Nagoya during class one day. We were doing any activity with the students which had sentences such as 'This person speaks with a Kansai dialect'. With my very poor knowledge of Japanese geography and regional areas I said, 'Oh, but Nagoya is in Kansai, right?' This normally calm and fairly timid teacher quickly replied, 'NO! Nagoya isn't in Kansai, it's in Chibu!' She then went on to say that lots of people in the Tokyo area make this mistake so I didn't feel quite so stupid. She is obviously fed up with this mistake - sorry!

Phiten

Have you heard of Phiten? It seems to be really taking off in Japan - everyone is wearing phiten braclets, necklaces and patches, particularly when playing sports. In fact, I've been recently trying out Phiten patches for my shoulder injury while playing tennis. What's it all about?

Titanium is a safe, hypoallergenic metal with strong, rust-resistant characteristics. Widely used in the medical and sports fields, this light metal also has the ability to regulate the body's natural electric currents through cell ionization...

...The act of "Phild Processing" Titanium was originally developed by a Japanese chiropractor to treat muscle pain and stiffness. He soon found that his system was most effective when the body's electric current was in distress, mainly due to stress and fatigue.

One tennis coach I met was wearing all the Phiten accessories you could ever wish for. I asked him if they did anything and he sounded very positive about their effects. However, I think he got them all for free - some kind of sponsorship?

A while back, I met a sports student. He wasn't even playing sports at the time but wore several patches; behind his ears for example! He also said they were great. He claimed they helped his 'balance'.

I'll see how the patches go for now...

> Phiten Technology - How it Works

Yahoo! Mail Plus

My Yahoo! Mail account inbox size has increased from 50MB to a whopping 2GB! That kind of increase is a little suspicious, is it not? I will have to read up on it - unless you care to tell me about it? The Yahoo interface has also been overhauled with several new features.

Hard Drive Upgrade

My VAIO developed a nasty hard disk problem about a month ago. Well, actually, I think it's been a slow process which finally came to a head. There are two reasons why I was worried about a DIY repair job - 1. my recovery disks are all in Japanese and 2. I don't have much experience with the inards of laptops.

However, it seems I was worrying too much. I managed to fit my brand new Hitachi Travelstar into place with relative ease and even got through all the Japanese screens to install windows.

I'd forgotten how long it takes to get Windows up and running with all my favourite programs installed - I've been sitting here practically all day. But Windows XP feels nice and fresh, not to mention incredibly speedy compared with my last hard drive installation. Back in university I used to install Windows with regularity on my desktop PC. Ah, those were the days... I guess my friends back in London are still doing this??

So, hopefully I'll get everything up and running soon. Still, I can still update notestomyself no problem. So, pat on my own back and fingers crossed that nothing from here on goes wrong.

Shinjuku Fight

By Sakuraya in Shinjuku there was a man sitting on a small ledge. Just as I walked up about level to him, the woman next to him launched into a vicous attack. At first I wasn't sure if it was for real - there didn't seem to be any great noises from her swipes. But she was kneeing and punching away; she was grabbing at his shirt and suddenly it tore and she pulled it clean off! The man didn't put up any kind of stuggle and just took his 'beats'. I kept walking but wish I'd stayed to watch now. Quite a few people started swarming around - people always like a good scrap.

Take Off

After an English class in the Language Lab room (have I written about this room?) the teacher announced, "Take off your head sets." This was normal enough, but I couldn't help but laugh when she then shortened the phrase and repeated, "Take-off please, take-off!"

Fuka Bear

Game Cube

As I was about to write this post it occured to me that maybe I'd written something very similar before. But after a little checking, I can't seem to find it. Perhaps I'd just thought about it a lot.

My latest games consoles, if you could call them 'latest', were the Nintendo 64 and Sega Dreamcast. I loved both and played them non-stop. I came to Japan and found myself playing games less and persuing other interests. However, a couple of games have bothered me... enough to buy a new console and start playing games again?

The latest game to tempt me is actually quite old, but I've wanted it ever since I heard about it: FZero GX on the Game Cube. I owned and loved both the Nintendo SNES version and Nintendo 64 versions of FZero and wondered if I could pass up the Game Cube version. However, I was never really convinced by the Game Cube and there was the ever popular Playstation 2.

At the weekend I met an old friend in Tokyo and we went to the arcade. We saw the arcade version of FZero, 'AX', and decided it was about time to have a go. I'd seen it many times but never tried. I was blown away by the speed, beauty and feel of the game. The option to use your Game Cube FZero GX game save file in the arcade machine sounded very interesting. Lots of upgrades were available for your floating racing machine.

[Note to friend: yes we had a draw at 1-1, but I won the tennis game!]

So, will I take the plunge and buy a Game Cube just for one game? Actually, there are other games I would love to have: a prime example being Mario Kart: Double Dash (again, I owned the SNES & N64 versions). After checking the price, I've found that a new Game Cube would set me back 14000 yen. Then there are the extra controllers and what not. I'll have to think seriously...

Smooth View

While browsing in Sakuraya I came across the computer section and took a quick look. Apple's offerings, I have to say, were particularly beautiful. I didn't have a clue how to use the Finder, though I used to own a Mac way back when. Clicking on anything or moving the mouse over icons created incredible animations. I wondered that if I owned such a Mac would I turn off these features like I turn off all extras on Windows to save a bit of speed.

What I really liked were the displays. With more of a 'widescreen' ratio, high resolution and beautiful anti-aliasing, looking at anything was a beautiful experience. Eventually, I stumbled upon the browser, Safari, I think it was called. So I arrived at my own site, just to see what it would look like - great! (even though I do say so myself). I could read half-way down the page and everything had been smoothed out for my weary eyes. Slick.

Unfortunately, I won't be splashing out on any new monitors, graphics cards or computers. At the moment my laptop hard drive is dying and that is my top PC priority. Perhaps I can replace it myself and see what this Sony VAIO recovery disk will do. I've only ever used the Windows disk before so I wonder what will happen.

Concentration

Do you know the game of Concentration? It's a game where you spread out cards face-down on a table; you then turn over two cards at a time, trying to make pairs. Basically, it's a memory game.

There is a special class at school for children with mental disabilities. Concentration, the game, suddenly popped into my head before I went to the special class and I mentioned it to the main English teacher. She said it sounded like a good idea and so we decided to try it with two of the students.

The students found the game entertaining; more so than the teachers at least. The teacher and I struggled so badly to remember any of the cards and the students, unsurprisingly I suppose, totally battered us. And I was trying! It was a hard blow to take. I need to practice this game ready for next time...

New White Coffee

New, from Kirin! Not an imaginative title but quite a delicious drink. It also comes in a nicely designed white can with gold logo!

Knowing Students

At school we were using a different room than normal for classes. For the entire day I was teaching with one English teacher in the same room.

After one of the late morning classes, the students filed out. Some students popped their heads in after a few minutes. I recognised some of the students from an earlier lesson, but the teacher said, 'Are you here for the lesson?' I realised that she didn't remember she'd taught them already - even though she seems to know a good few of their names. It seems that she doesn't know which students belong to which classes.

I always assumed that the teachers knew - but then, if you think about it, it's easier to remember individual names and faces rather than classes. If I think of classes, I either draw a blank or remember one or two of the noisy kids. Then again my memory isn't so great most of the time.

Toilet Food

This was one bizarre dream. Unfortunately, I can only remember a few snippets:

I dashed to the toilet, possibly at school. However, the atmosphere turned into more of a prison scene. Then, while doing my business, I suppose, a teacher started calling me from outside. 'I'm on the toilet,' I said. But she came closer. A plate of food was slid across the floor under the toilet door - my prison lunch? When I opened the door, the teacher was standing in front of me. She was hideously transformed from her real appearance - her whole body was like a huge cube of fat. Imagine an the NHK mascot with rippling fat, if you can.

That's about all I recall. Not a very pleasant dream but something worth noting, I thought.

Tramps & Trains

How often do you see a pretty young girl in high heels having a converstation with a tramp at a station? Not often. Though this photo doesnt show it well, they are actually having a friendly looking talk.

It's just after 8 a.m. on Sunday morning. At the station there are business folk, lots and lots of high school students going to their school sports clubs and a fair few hikers setting off for the day complete with huge backpacks - far too many people for such an early time.

Phone Reading

Standing just to my right on the train there's a guy who's really pissing me off. I'm sitting at the end of the row and he's holding the bar, leaning over my seat as if he's trying to read my keitai email. He's just way too close. I hope he's reading this and can understand what I'm saying: get lost pal.

Drunken Dreams

It was late and I was waiting for a train. I knew I was a little drunk, but I had no particular worries about getting to my destination. Though I'd set my keitai alarm to wake me at the station I had to change at, it didn't wake me; I woke up near the end of the line! It was borderline 'last train time' and the train I wanted to take had already left. It was the last one. Luckily, taking a different train I was able to get home. However, I was very pissed off by this mistake of mine. Somewhere along the return journey my keitai alarm vibrated in my pocket - I'd set it for the wrong time. Now, I realise I shouldn't have made that promise...

This real life event mixed with other thoughts in my mind and as I slept my dreams turned back to the old classic - 'being late'. So, in my dream the time was tomorrow morning - the day of a tennis doubles tournament I was to take part in with my friend. I had to meet him at 8:30 in the morning. When I opened my eyes I found myself back in my old room in London. I searched for my alarm clock - it was '10:30 a.m!!!'

I felt so annoyed that I'd missed the tournament and let down my friend. But why hadn't he rang after 8:30? When I called him, I told him that I'd been drinking alone the previous night and made a mistake when setting my alarm clock. For some reason, my friend wasn't the least bit bothered. We were no longer on the phone, but walking through what felt like a mixture of public Roman baths and Japanese Onsen!

The phone rang and I struggled to open my eyes. Where was I? What appointments did I have? My mind was lost and it was an unsettling feeling. I was back in Japan. As I placed my thoughts I said to myself, 'Don't make promises when you're drunk.'

Neglected Dreams

My dreams, oh my long lost dreams! I admit to forgetting about my dream posts and feel as though many dream memories have faded out of the world forever - to right this wrong I must try and note my finer dreams again!

Let's start again with any recent memories of dreams. Have you ever been half-awake, half-asleep and dreaming at the same time. You realise you are dreaming but you don't quite fully wake up. It's quite a bizarre experience but happens to me from time to time. The last time, I knew the dream wasn't real - I was half-awake- but I was still seeing it unfold before my eyes and I helplessly responded, spitting out a few slurred words.

Coca Cola C2

On my usual morning 'combini' (convenience store) breakfast buying run I came across a huge display of the new Coca Cola C2! I'd heard about it before but thought it was a new flavour. It turns out to be a low calorie version. Well, calorie levels never really bother me but anyway, I wanted to try it to bought my first bottle today.

I wasn't expecting the low calorie version to be as full of great sweetness as the original and I think I was right. The adverts claim to lower the calories while keeping the flavour. Well, I think I'll stick to the original and choose a different drink when I want fewer calories.

NHK George

Don't you just love the NHK English conversation program, １００語でスタート英会話? It's the one with George, you know, the bilingual guy with pink or green hair. I always find it interesting to watch programs like George's because you can also practice your Japanese by listening to the basic sentences in both Japanese and English. Is Sayuri Anzu, the Japanese presenter (and 'talent' according to the website), always presenting? She's yet another reason to tune-in and brush-up your English/Japanese.

Ageing Population

Check out this BBC article.

Japan hits record on centenarians - the number of centenarians has doubled in the last five years to more than 20,000...

...Japan already has the world's highest life expectancy, at 78 years for men, and 85 for women.

Maybe my chances of living a longer life are higher if I stay in Japan. Would I want to live to 100?? I guess that would depend on the condition of my mind and body.

Space Transit

Take a look at these great pictures of venus passing in front of the sun. These pictures were sent in by readers to the bbc news website. Make sure you see the last picture!

She Strikes Again

The chikan girl's class has been located. I team taught her class and spotted her white-framed glasses. Super defence mode activated immediately!

At one point during the class I was walking around asking the students various questions. After asking chikan girl her question, I took a long route around her to the next person. But as the next person was directly behind her, it was just too easy. She pounced.

After class I briefly spoke to her and her friends. She claimed, 'I like hip!' and then told me 'It feels good!' She then went on to recommended another teacher's bottom to me.

Growing

A delightful thing has happened. When I met a friend whom I hadn't seen in a good while she commented, 'You've grown!' Could it be that I am still growing at the age of 24? Yes, it's possible. Believe... Believe...

Yoyogi Sakura

Sakura is a major part of Japanese culture. Going to sit under the sakura (cherry blossoms) with your friends is known as hanami. I've seen the sakura bloom twice so far in Japan and it truly is a beautiful sight.

At long last I've got around to sorting out my sakura pictures from Yoyogi Koen. This series of photos was taken at the end of March 2004 as I strolled around the park, which was fresh after lots of rain. The rain created many interesting photo opportunities, as I hope you will agree.

So, please check out the photo section of the site. As always, if you have any comments, please leave them here.

Felt by Students

One lunchtime last week I was patrolling the school corridors for the lack of entertainment in the staffroom. Near the nurse's room there were several 2nd year girls waiting for something. Perhaps they were waiting their turn to do some of the several self-health checks last week: measure your height, weight, hand grip strength and the like.

These students were very friendly and tried their best to speak in English to me. One of them suddenly said (in Japanese), 'May I touch?' and at the same time grabbed my butt-cheek! This is the first time for this to happen to me at junior high school; one young boy at elementary seemed to like trying to grab my... ahem. Swift escape movements are essential for the ALT, apparently.

To counter-attack, I called the girl a chikan (like the guys who feel up girls on trains), which all the girls laughed at. The 'feeler' insisted that she wasn't a chikan but that it wasn't the first time she's been called one. She went on to say that, 'It's kind of a hobby!'

During school cleaning time after lessons I happened across the same group of students. This time I was prepared and used a wall as extra defence. Still, at one point I was looking the other way and she got me again. You would never know, just to look at her... but then perhaps all chikan are like that.

Asakusa Okonomiyaki!

New photos uploaded: 'Asakusa, Tokyo, in the Rain' & 'How to Make Okonimyaki'. Both sets of photos are from a trip to Asakusa yesterday. It was my first time there in over a year, but overall my 3rd time so far.

Check out the photo album section of the site & if you have any feedback please leave comments here.

Terror Up

From a few months back the level of security and precautions against terrorism on trains has been very noticeable here in Japan. Just like in London the bins are disappearing from station platforms and there are new signs in trains asking passengers to warn staff if there are any suspicous packages on the train.

Many of the lockers at stations have been taken out of use which can be a real pain. I can understand alerts may be high in areas like Shinjuku, but at stations far out from Tokyo I can't see there being anyone who would try a terror attack.

Fingers crossed & keep alert.

Battle Pencil

When I was at elementary school last week I received a number of sweet presents and letters. One of my prized gifts is a 'battle pencil'. I think it was a 4th or 5th year who gave it to me. On each bevel of the pencil there are numerous points such as 'damage 20' and 'health 10'. The idea is to roll the pencil, a bit like a dice, and to use the results to battle with your friends. He told me that they are quite popular and I saw that his friend had a pencil case full of different battle pencils. In Japanese they are called 'batopen' for short.

Another student in the same class gave me a rather nice looking blue pen. Less than a minute after he gave me the pen, another girl came up and said, 'It doesn't write! Try it!' She was right - the boy gave me an old blue pen that has no ink! Thanks a bunch.

Walk On Water

Raising a new breed of student.

Green Sun

Just a thought but: when you come inside from bright sunlight why does everything turn green?

Sexy Introduction

For the last 2 years I've been introducing myself to hundreds of students at elementary schools, junior high schools and high schools in Japan.

During my first couple of minutes of my self-introduction class I usually tell the students I am from England. What is the first thing that someone will shout out in response to this? 'Beckham!' of course. As I realised he was one of the modern symbols of England across the world, before I set out to Japan I found a Beckham magazine cover to bring with me. So, when that one student yells out 'Beckham,' I reach for my magazine cover to show the students.

The strange thing that I hadn't noticed until very recently is the text beside that lovely face. In big bold letters it says 'How to spice up your sex life!' This came as a bit of surprise to me and I felt a little embarrassed that I'd been showing it to elementary students as part of my introduction. I wonder if any of the teachers noticed? Maybe I should just keep on using it.

Sexy Miser

Teacher's Pet

Teacher's pets are not liked by fellow students in the classroom. How about from the teacher's perspective? I had always imagined that having such students would be great - there would always be someone answering your questions, doing the work you set, behaving well and causing you no bother. But through experiences the last couple of weeks I've changed my mind.

At elementary school in Japan there are students who are attending English conversation schools (NOVA etc). These students know far more English than the other students in the class and being young, many are not too bothered about answering all questions and stealing the spotlight. Let me give you an example.

When I was presenting a series of flashcards - numbers or foods, I forget which - one student always knew the answers and wasted no time in shouting them out. Of course, this is great and should be encouraged. However, I felt that the other students were not able to go at a faster pace and I wanted them to answer some of the questions - they could in some cases, but the English conversation school student would think of the answer very quickly. So, in order to do this I had to ignore this one kid's quite correct answers to wait for some other students to say the answers.

I felt like I was trying to defend the other students from the star-pupil! Is this a normal feeling for teachers, or is it just my soft-spot for the weaker students coming through?