So I've been to the English Karaoke party. It was fabulous and I really enjoyed it! There were 5 members including myself, and the three of us close in age + one of the ladies who respects Madonna were excited to find that we all liked 80s music. Meanwhile, the other lady has unveiled her teenage-girl-like beautiful voice, singing us hit tunes from popular musicals and jazz standards. I had reserved the Karaoke box for two hours, though it turned out to be not enough that I had to make another hour of extension. Resultingly, we had a great time for three full hours, drinking, singing and rioting.

I wasn't so sure about this party since we were to sing only English songs, but my worries ended up in vain.

The End

Caterpillar

One of my acquaintance seems to have been victimized by skimming. She's taken a trip to Borneo during her New Year vacation, and the full statement of her credit card has arrived recently. However, she noticed the amount of payment was far too much than she had spent. Being suspicious, she checked it over carefully and found that there were some Internet access fee on it, which she absolutely hasn't used. She called up the credit card company right away, and then discovered that she had been skimmed. Well, they say Malaysia is a credit-card scam paradise after all.

Anyway, it could happen to any of us. Who knows? Today's outsider tomorrow's victim. I better keep that in mind.

The End

Caterpillar

As I was being cradled on the commuting train, I heard an old man's voice from somewhere a little apart saying, "Hey, you youngsters should give seats to the elderly!" I couldn't help giggling, thinking that it's been a while since I've last seen a cranky old man like him. However, mister. Don't you think that those youngsters could become stubborn, and stop giving up seats even more if you put it that way? If you gather exactly the same passengers once again, I'll bet they'd take over all the seats before you get on.

Thinking things like that to myself, I picked up a piece of flyer that someone might have dropped and got off the train. Let's keep the train cars clean, guys.

The End

Caterpillar

A good deed for the day. Although I picked up the piece of flyer in order to keep the train cars clean and comfortable, I couldn't find any garbage pail to throw it into. Whether It's the sake for counterterrorism (how many "r"s do I have to hit?) I don't know, but it sure is a disadvantage with less garbage pails in the stations or on the streets. I doubt if this cut down of garbage pails are practically effective however, as they say, I can't fight the city hall. Small people like myself will just have to go with it.

Eventually, I ended up carrying the crumbled ball of flyer for another 30 minutes on the subway. But still, no littering about on the streets, guys.

The End

Caterpillar

I had the radio turned on in my office as usual, when they were putting a segment on air called, "Yesterday's Mr. Asou." It was a diddly session just simply introducing what our prime minister, Mr. Tarou Asou has done yesterday. I was wondering if there was any meaning to such a nonsense session on the radio, when the following segment started, "Yesterday's Mr. Obama." Hey, don't mess with me here.

Don't they have anything else more important to put on air, huh?

The End

Caterpillar

Speaking of the present Japanese prime minister Tarou Asou, he's been creating a sensation in this country, by misreading Kanji characters. After all, he's the man who has misread "mizou" "mizoiyu", previously misreading "sankaku" for "sanka" in the Diet the other day. Well, we've had worse leaders before. Our former prime minister Yoshio Mori had said "Who are you?" instead of "How are you?" when greeting former president Bill Clinton for a handshake. Misreading Kanji characters is coming to seem like a small thing to me.

As I was typing away thinking like that, Cow who was attending his client near me misread "zenkai" for "zengen". Oh geez. Not you, too.

The End

Caterpillar

On Saturdays, I'm usually engaged in work from morning barely able to take a break. Today was another Saturday though I wasn't prepared nor ready enough yet, after having wasted my time on a not-so-necessary searching yesterday, but I worked my ass off alright. Meanwhile, Cow sitting near me has been devoting himself from morning into some online game...

He's been into this online game called Atlantica for some time now, and when he doesn't have anything urgent coming up, he's doing it all day long. As I asked him, "Is it that diverting?" he answered, "It's getting me bored these days." Oh yeah? Then why don't you start workin' huh?!

The End

Caterpillar

I think it was the day before yesterday, that I've wrote about Cow misreading Kanji characters just like prime minister Asou. Later, he came to me to complain that it wasn't actually a "misreading" of Kanji. Really. Oh, he's such a nitpicker. Then what exactly was your mistake?

According to Cow, he didn't misread the Kanji characters, he simply read the same line twice which means, he misread the lines. I'd like to make a correction of what I've written for his reputation's sake. Well, I guess he wouldn't be able to stand being regarded as the same kind of person as Mr. Asou, after all.

The End

Caterpillar

The headline "Takuma Broken Off" danced on the some sports paper's Saturday edition. I think it was the about F1 team Toro Rosso which was thought to be the most possible new team for Takuma Sato, passing on inclusion of him as their driver. Though I'm not sure about the details, 'cause I only able to catch a glimpse. Takuma has appealed his outstanding performance in the team's test last autumn, despite the few chances he was given. And now they're giving him a brush-off. So they have a lot of balls, huh? Or is it simply a matter of money again?

It's a bit of a depression for me, but I guess things must be much harder for Takuma himself. However, I definitely wouldn't want him to give it up now. As they say, God gives hardships only to those who can overcome. Now must be the time for that hardship. Never give up, Takuma!

The End

Caterpillar

Cow seemed to have tried downloading and installing some free security software to his friend's computer. After he had downloaded the software, he started the installation and it was almost finished when he noticed the progress indicator had suddenly stopped moving. Hmn? He looked at the display rather puzzled. The next moment, he saw the indicator moving backwards erasing its progress. Whaatt?! The indicator, leaving Cow astonished, went on disappearing and in no time it vanished completely. As Cow sat there with his jaw hanging, the monitor displayed those familiar words "The installation was unsuccessful."

Cow told me about it and said, "I've never seen anything like that before." Even Cow could be surprised sometimes.

The End

Caterpillar

The day has finally come for the World Cup qualifier between Japan and Australia. The result of this match would have a big effect on the future of the national team of Japan. It's a showcase match. Right now, about 20 minutes of the first half has passed, though the score is still 0-0. It's reaally thrilling. A soccer freak kid who lives near my office had called the match for Japan's victory by 2-0. Let's see what happens!

Come on, go Japan, go!

The End

Caterpillar

Eventually, the game ended in a scoreless tie. It must have been better if the national team had won since it was a home game however, they added up another winning point after all, and I might as well be satisfied.

By the way, I asked the soccer kid what he thought would be most necessary for the national team to win. He answered, "To make the passes more accurate." Great kid, really.

The End

Caterpillar

I realized that today was Friday the 13th. Well, that doesn't actually mean that Jason is coming out or anything, but it's creepy because it somehow makes me feel vaguely that something bad is going to happen. Personally, I've overslept and came in late today. Though I had no problem, for Fridays are usually not so busy and it would be alright even if I came after lunch. So nothing bad has happened so far except that today's Tokyo has become quite windy (though it's also pretty warm). I bet there must be tons of cedar pollen blown and spread by this wind. That means the cedar polllen (hay fever) season has set in. Now, this is a problem.

I'd better drop by the supermarket to buy a bottle of Taihaku sesame oil.

The End

Caterpillar

Today is Valentine's Day. And on this Valentine's Day, I was blessed with a lecture by Cow... He seemed to have watched this TV program, probably an educational nature program (like discovery channel) on NHK. And according to his lecture, hippopotamuses have the same roots as whales.

Whhaaatt?! I can't believe it. I thought hippos' roots were boars or something!

The End

Caterpillar

The bush fire in Australia still seems to be burning. It was about a week ago, when the news was reported about a bush fire that broke out in the suburb of Melbourne. I remember seeing a flash report on TV of a miraculously saved koala, with his hand covered with a bundle of bandages. I've always been wondering if there couldn't be anything done to prevent wildfire, whenever I heard the news of bush fire breaking out overseas causing serious disasters. And I've come up with this idea preventing natural fire in a traditional Japanese way. It's called the Uchi-mizu mission.

But as I was browsing some blogs of Japanese residents in Australia gathering information, I found out that they were lacking water down there. Aww, it was too simplistic an idea, I guess.

The End

Caterpillar

Our finance minister, Shouko Nakagawa oops sorry, Shouichi Nakagawa has been scooped while he has been dozing during the G7 finance minister and central bankers' meeting held in Rome. A video catching him dozing has been published on the Internet and is now attracting people's attention. Oh geez, he's helpless... Though his dozing hasn't just started today. A couple of years ago I was watching Diet proceedings on TV where he was actually dozing. While he stayed awake, he kept glopping lip cream all over his mouth. He's a total shame of Japan.

I think you'd better face it, and quit before you disgrace yourself and this country even more, Shou-chan.

The End

Caterpillar

The finance minister Shouichi Nakagawa's dozing problem turned out to be not just a catnap. In the press conference after the meeting, Nakagawa made quite a scene being unable to speek clearly. And as a question was thrown at him from one of the reporters, he turned his head to an off-the-beam direction saying, "Where?" revealing that apparently he was totally plastered.

So today, he has announced his intention of stepping down to "draw the line". Well, hasn't he forgotten his responsibility somewhere?

The End

Caterpillar

Unfortunately, Shou-chan has turned out to be a total disgrace to Japan however, not all Japanese are like him. Haruki Murakami, now the world-famous Japanese novelist has won the Jerusalem Prize, known as the most honorable literary prize in Israel. He attended the ceremony held on 15th (that's Sunday) and practically criticized the over-aggressiveness of the Israeli troops in his speech saying, "Over 1000 people has been killed in the attack against the Gaza Strip, and most of them were unarmed children and the elderly." He also mentioned that his attendance was criticized that receiving the award would lead to defending Israel, though he eventually decided to "speak rather than say nothing".;

As a same Japanese, I am proud of the brave decision and action he has made and took, and would like to send him my greatest admiration and respect. Applause, applause.

The End

Caterpillar

There are usually several guys giving away pocket tissues or various freebies, near the terminal station on my way to work. As I came by that place, I found that there weren't any of them this morning. Though actually there was one, only he was in a distant place. As my eyes met his, he came dashing towards me. Oh no, I didn't mean to come eye to eye with that long haired guy. I glanced away in a hurry, but it was too late. In no time he was right by me, and handed out a pack of pocket tissue saying, "Onegai shimaaasu!" God, it brings me down. I ignored and went past him when I heard a weak fading voice thrown at me over my shoulder, "you, in that Metallica T-shirt..." Yeah, that's me. I was wearing a Metallica T-shirt today.

Well, if he had said that earlier to inform me that he was one of us, then I would have taken maybe 10 packs of those tissues.

The End

Caterpillar

I've envied my junior high school classmate, when she had a chance to hold a petit-reunion with some of the guys from school, gathered through a Japanese SNS site called Mixi. That friend has kindly transferred me an invitation e-mail for the junior high real reunion. A friend in need is a friend indeed. And so, I'm going to the reunion tomorrow night. But I suddenly came to realize, that I couldn't recall most of the faces of my classmates... Uh-oh.

It's now only less than 24 hours away, and now I'm getting worried all of a sudden. Well, you know, I'm such a wimp. I can hear my heart thumping already - thump - thump.

The End

Caterpillar

The reason I can't recall most of my junior high classmates' faces is, probably because I've sealed up the memory around that time of my life. Looking back, I think I still hadn't fit in the Japanese culture yet, not completely. And I wasn't getting along so well with my classmates. So to tell you the truth, the idea of going to the reunion is making me scared stiff. But if I don't go, it would make me feel like I haven't changed a bit since then, like I'm still the same old patheic fool I was back then.

So I'm gathering up all my courage and going to hit the road tonight. After all, I'm a grown up now.

The End

Caterpillar

I was completely freaked out by the time I arrived at the Izakaya where the reunion took place, but I had been totally wrong. The reunion was actually great! At first, I couldn't tell who was who however, looking at everyone's faces one by one with the help of my friend's lecture who had arrived earlier, I gradually came to recognize those familiar faces.

Aaahhh, yes. As the memories came back, I sort of jumped over all these decades of years and although it sounds strange, it didn't fly me back and make me a junior high kid. Instead, we hob-nobbed accepting and respecting each other as grown-ups. It was a little different from slipping back in time to the past. In fact, I was in a strange, but a much more pleasant space. It's nice sometimes, isn't it? I'm really glad I went.

The End

Caterpillar

Anyway, I had finished up my work earlier than usual to go to the reunion and was getting ready to go, when I saw this old man parking his bike in front of our office. Oh man, don't tell me you're coming in. I had swung my scarf around my neck, and was about to put my down jacket on. But my worries came true. The old man came right into the office...

Eventually, that old man spoke his mind out on me for a good 30 minutes, just for some stupid reason that he happened to catch a glimpse of our signboard when he coincidentally passed by our office, and left without offering us any work. What did he want? What was all this about? Did I just waste 30 minutes from my precious time on some stupid old man's pastime? What was all my hurrying for? All my efforts vanished in smoke again.

The End

Caterpillar

While Mr. Asou whose approval rate has dropped down to 11-plus�@% range is on his way to the Whitehouse to meet president Obama, Japan's ex-finance minister Shou-chan has appeared on a cell phone game. This game called "Exhausted Minister Dozing at a News Conference" is a flash game content for cell phones. Downloadable for 52 yen (communication charges not included), the game is played by seeking chances and dozing between the gaps of reporters' questions. The approval rates will go up when you answer the questions, but you have to take additional dozes to build up energy. His energy flags when you don't, and the game will be over when he runs out of energy driving him into "resignation".

I launched my computer first thing this afternoon and found it in the jumping-up query. I bet there are not a few people downloading this game.

The End

Caterpillar

It's been raining off and on here in Tokyo since the beginning of this week. Additionally, the temperature's been low. Almost as low as midwinter. We can't go without the kerosene heater at our office because it gets too cold without it, yet when we have it turned on, it gets too warm and makes me sleepy (like some ex-finance minister)...

I've been working on this "Murmur" for more than an hour now, and I've only written about three lines... Three lines in an hour, what a slow job! Give me a break...

The End

Caterpillar

Not again. I was about to get killed by carbon monoxide poisoning again. I woke up this morning, got out of my room to wash my face and BINGO! It smelled terribly of gas. Don't they ever learn? I thought as I trotted down the stairs right into the kitchen, and turned off the gas of the burner feeling very accomplished. As I had expected, the gas had been out where the fire had gone out for some reason. It's an emergency situation but I've got used to it, especially when it happens once in every 3 or 4 months. However, as I was washing my face in the bathroom after turning on the fan, I heard JoOusama going into the kitchen and ... turning on the burner! Yiiiipe!!!

I shut the bathroom door in a flash almost automatically. Who knows? It might save my life. After all, living with these people is practically risking my life.

The End

Caterpillar

According to yesterday's weather forecast, today was supposed to be rainy all day long. They had been saying so in the weekly forecast since a week ago, so I have been expecting rainy weather. This morning, I took a quick glance out the window, just to check how hard it was raining outside and it was...

snowing?!

The End

Caterpillar

Resultingly, we had rain this week for 3 days straight starting Tuesday, and on top of all that it snowed on Friday. Although it's true they say that snow falling on Tokyo around this time of year is a sign of spring, it's also true that it's still cold enough to snow. According to the weekly weather forecast, we could have another snow around the middle of next week.

Oh, I don't think I can stand any longer in this coldness. Really, this coldness is making me visit the toilet more and more often these days.

The End

Caterpillar