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Last night we grilled
Last night we grilled burgers and lit sparklers on the patio. Perhaps it was an unconscious nod to American Independence Day, though I didn’t think of that until just now. At the time it seemed perfectly Japanese. Fireworks are legal in Tokyo (and all over Japan, as far as I know) and it’s really fun…
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Tod tested me yesterday.
Tod tested me yesterday. He spent the entire day reconfiguring glass,the keystone in our household computer network. That meant no Internet access for the whole day. I fell asleep at midnight wondering what I had missed. When I woke up this morning, there was a note on my monitor: TO BRING UP LINK, PRESS ENTER…
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My sister, Jenn, is
My sister, Jenn, is three years younger than I am. It’s a good gap in ages, and we’ve always been friends. But my competitive nature makes us rivals, too. Jenn’s list of one-upsmanship (from my perspective) She’s taller. She wore pantyhose before I did. She had a boyfriend before I did. She drove first. And…
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It’s 8 am and
It’s 8 am and I am happy to have my new laptop, Ferry, who I purchased in Dover last month. Her umbilical cord (an Ethernet cable) stretches across the bed, down the hall and into the office to give me Internet access. I also have a cold. A miserable summertime one, probably brought on by…
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Prime Minister Koizumi must
Prime Minister Koizumi must be happy. An interview revealed that he always wanted to be a rock star. Well, he is popular enough to be one. His Cabinet’s approval rating is a record-breaking 88%. What I can’t figure out is why. They don’t seem to be doing much of anything differently, though Foreign Minister Tanaka…
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Tod gave me a
Tod gave me a present of books. He often orders books from Powell’s in Portland and he loves their delivery. They come in big, grey postal sacks. There’s no bookstore quite like Powell’s here in Tokyo–not for English books, certainly (the paucity of English books in this city is really depressing), but not for Japanese…
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On the way to
On the way to my 1st grade student’s house, I passed a wonderful French patisserie. The window display of a chouchon (pig) cake caught my eye. It was so cute; I was very tempted to buy it and share it with Katie during her lesson. But it was 3,500 yen and pretty large, so I…
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Because of the recent
Because of the recent heat, Tod’s been busy replacing batteries in the aircon remotes. Yesterday he did the second unit in the dining room. “Come look at this! It bows when you press a button,” he called to me. He failed to mention the novelty of having a cartoon of a uniformed Japanese Office Lady…
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Geez, we eat a
Geez, we eat a lot of salt. I was shocked when I finished up the last of the salt in the bin (we don’t even use shakers anymore) and rummaged around in the cabinet to find some more. There wasn’t any. In the course of three years here, we have consumed two liters of salt.…
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I’m too used to
I’m too used to waiting. It began (as I recall) with a boyfriend in 1986 who was always running late. I learned to bring a book. I started watching people. 15 years later in Tokyo, I still find myself waiting. Yesterday it was an hour’s wait for an out-of-town visitor I had promised to meet…
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