OTAKU

Otaku is a Japanese term for a geeky person. Like someone who loves manga or anime and stuff like that. My friend Ryuta is an otaku.

JAPANESE VISITORS

I must admit, one of my main social weaknesses is my lack of tolerance. I think I'm just not very good at being around people for a long time. I need a lot of space (and that's not just due to body odour), so one of the things worrying me about returning to Northern Ireland, apart from the culture shock, is living back at home. A small house with a family of six, and I'll no longer be King of the Castle :o(Usually a day or two with a person/people is enough before I crave some alone-time. However, I've found the Japanese to be excellent guests. This year Nori, my old roommate from Tasmania came and stayed for ten days. It was great. Not intrusive at all. No mess, no demands, no dirty socks on the floor, no borrowing my best brandname boxers, no 'entertain me, entertain me' attitude and no stress. It was great having him here and I was sorry to see him go.This weekend past I had two Japanese visitors. Ryuta (name means 'fat bear') and Masami (means 'elegant beauty') from Shiroishi and Tokyo. And yet again, it was a great experience. We cooked together, got drunk, played some dice games, and did some hiking. We climbed my favourite mountain, Kurikome-san, on saturday and hiked in a pretty gorge in the nearby town on Naruko on Sunday.
And surprisingly when the time came to say goodbye I didn't feel the usual relief of 'ahh, I can relax again, I have my space', but rather my apartment felt empty and I alone. I'm over it now and the tears have stopped. But it was reassuring to realise I CAN tolerate guests for a few days. Because sometimes I worry that I'll be a terrible 'family man' in the (distant) future since I've lived such a selfish lifestyle for so long.

MAN

In an attempt to prove my 'manliness' I recently held my hand under a surging waterfall whilst placidly smiling. Despite the sub-zero temperatures and arm-breaking pressure of this cascade, I had the inner-strength to hold my (manly) hand under there for three photos (I wasn't happy with my hair in the first two). But it was well worth it and I can be assured that my reputation as a 'man' will last for quite some time. Daddy, are you proud?

BEER BELLY?

People have always made fun of my little beer belly. Understandable, I guess, on an otherwise skinny body. But my usually polite Japanese friends are now also abusing me. I argue that it's a whisky belly and not a beer belly (the tax system makes spirits cheaper over here), but I still feel a little hurt.
So I've figured out a diet plan.
This packet of tortilla chips (99gm) contains 489 calories. However this can of light beer (500ml) contains only 120 calories. So for each packet of chips I don't eat, I can drink 4 cans of beer. Or, if I want to shed a few pounds wieght, I can cut down to 3 cans a day. Now that's the kind of diet I like.

FRIDAY SUNSET

From my front yard.

UNBELIEVABLE

Talking to a teacher over lunch today I asked her what Japanese university students usually do for food. Eat out or cook or go to a canteen, etc. Her answer was that she had never lived away from home. This lead on to her telling me that her parents would only let her study in this prefecture and thus commuted to uni. She is twenty-seven, a junior high school teacher and has never lived alone. She still has to be home by 10pm every night. I think her subjects are social studies and geography. But how can you teach kids about life if you haven't lived?

SPEAK YOUR MIND PLAINLY

Or at least write it on a door.

SOUNDTRACKS

If you're in the mood for buying some new music, here are my top ten soundtracks (in no particular order).

1. Royal Tenenbaums
2. Donnie Darko
3. Lucky Number Slevin
4. O Brother, Where Art Though
5. Pulp Fiction
6. Last Of The Mohicans
7. Babel
8. Natural Born Killers
9. The Beach
10. Lord Of War

HAIKU

Learned bird of prey
Hunts without moving a wing
Master of the wind

KYOTO-SENSEI

Kyoto-Sensei is Japanese for Vice-Principal.
The Kyoto-Sensei at my elementary school is cool.
He often comes to school in a his kei truck (small Japanese utility truck).Our principal is off sick so he's covering all his duties.
Despite that he spent two hours today in overalls digging up the school gardens for new flower beds.
How cool is that!